Paris, France. President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a short conversation on the sidelines of Tuesday’s Bastille Day celebrations.
Government sources confirmed that the two met and spoke but said they did not yet know the content of the discussion. Phileleftheros reported that they discussed the Cyprus issue and European Union relations with Turkey.
Renewed diplomatic efforts
The meeting took place as efforts increase on the island and internationally to resume substantive negotiations on the Cyprus problem.
On Monday, the European Commission appointed Executive Vice President for Cohesion Raffaele Fitto as its envoy for the Cyprus problem.
United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin is also holding contacts with stakeholders as part of a UN initiative launched in recent weeks and months to support a resumption of negotiations.
Holguin was expected to meet European Council President Antonio Costa on Monday, although it was unclear whether the meeting took place.
Calls for progress
Last week, Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to “seize the renewed momentum” for a Cyprus settlement when they met on the sidelines of the Nato leaders’ summit in Ankara.
Holguin is expected to return to Cyprus in the coming weeks for further meetings with Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman. The contacts are intended to prepare for an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem later this summer.
The meeting would include the two sides on the island, the three guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the United Nations.
Both Cypriot leaders have said the meeting should produce progress. Christodoulides said its outcome must include “the resumption of talks”, while Erhurman called for “results” to be achieved.