The election of a new president in Cyprus could bring a solution by the end of the year to the island's decades-long partition, but failure now could leave it divided forever, the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state's leader said Feb. 25.

Mehmet Ali Talat said the Turkish Cypriot side was willing to be flexible.

Peace talks to reunite the strategically located war-divided island have been stalled for years. But Dimitris Christofias, who won a crucial presidential election runoff Feb. 24, has pledged to quickly meet with Talat.