Nicosia, Cyprus. President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman will meet next Monday, according to information obtained by the Cyprus Mail. The meeting will be hosted at the residence of the head of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus in the buffer zone in western Nicosia.
Meeting details and format
Unficyp spokesman Aleem Siddique confirmed the meeting will take place at the residence of Unficyp chief Khassim Diagne. Siddique said Diagne will host the meeting but will not participate, and that the format will be identical to the meeting the two leaders held in February at the same location.
Recent tensions between the leaders
The meeting comes amid strained relations between Christodoulides and Erhurman, with Erhurman criticising Christodoulides’ statements on Greece’s independence day as “inconsistent, unfounded and unserious”.
Christodoulides had said Turkish Cypriots could only have a say on the future of the two British bases on the island “after they return to the Republic of Cyprus”, and that Greek Cypriots should “utilise the way in which our Greek brothers fought to gain their freedom” in their own efforts regarding the Cyprus problem.
Government response and UN envoy
Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said in response that “we are not going to enter into a public confrontation, nor are we going to negotiate publicly”.
“We will respectfully continue to position ourselves by putting forward international law, putting forward the constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, putting forward what should be considered self-evident in any other state,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin returning to the island, Letymbiotis said her schedule will be “made public by her, by the United Nations”.
Previous meeting and UN contacts
Both Christodoulides and Erhurman described February’s meeting as “open and honest”, though no concrete results were achieved.
In recent months, both leaders have met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, with Christodoulides saying after his meeting that “we must expect developments soon” on the Cyprus problem.
What do you expect will come from the leaders’ next meeting?
