Christodoulides and Erhurman to meet on Cyprus issue on August 26

Nicosia, Cyprus. President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman are due to meet on August 26, with the Greek Cypriot side seeking a substantive discussion, competent sources said on Monday.

Preparations for expanded meeting

Sources told the Cyprus News Agency that the objective is to discuss issues raised during UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ visit to Cyprus, focusing particularly on preparations for the next expanded meeting on the Cyprus problem.

Guterres visited the island in late July, meeting both leaders and announcing that a new enlarged meeting would take place if the necessary preconditions were met.

The negotiators representing the two sides are expected to meet in the coming days to prepare for the leaders’ meeting.

Government position

Speaking on CyBC radio, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said Christodoulides would approach the meeting with a constructive attitude.

He said the government was seeking progress on issues including the opening of new crossing points.

Turkish Cypriot position

Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu said last week that declarations of willingness to reach a Cyprus settlement could not produce results unless the two sides first agreed on the nature of the problem.

He said he agreed with repeated statements by Erhurman that the Turkish Cypriot side was committed to finding a solution to the Cyprus problem.

However, Ertugruloglu questioned why decades of negotiations had failed to produce a settlement despite repeated statements by both sides that they wanted a solution.