Nicosia, Cyprus. President Nikos Christodoulides will meet Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman next Friday, May 8, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Thursday. The meeting is set for 4pm at the official residence of UN special representative Khassim Diagne in the buffer zone in Nicosia.
Meeting details and stated purpose
Letymbiotis said in a social media post that the leaders’ regular meetings reflect an effort to maintain open channels of communication aimed at creating conditions for the resumption of substantive negotiations. He said that every contact should have an orientation, every discussion should have a purpose, and confidence-building measures have value when they serve the return to substantive negotiations.
Link to UN timeline and Greek Cypriot position
Letymbiotis said the initiatives by Christodoulides come as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed a desire for developments on the Cyprus issue by the end of his term, with Guterres set to leave office at the end of this year. He said the Greek Cypriot side is ready to respond immediately and substantially if Guterres considers his initiative to be at a mature stage.
Priority and negotiation framework
Letymbiotis said the resolution of the Cyprus problem remains Christodoulides’ highest national priority and that the goal is the resumption of substantive negotiations from where they were interrupted, within the UN framework and based on relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
Previous meeting and recent comments
Christodoulides and Erhurman last met on April 6, when the United Nations said they exchanged views on substance and the way forward and welcomed Guterres’ sustained commitment and engagement on the Cyprus issue. Christodoulides said afterward that they exchanged views on confidence-building measures. Erhurman did not issue a statement and was at the time involved in mediating between the ruling coalition and trade unions over payments of the cost-of-living allowance to public sector workers.
What do you expect the May 8 meeting to achieve regarding confidence-building measures and the resumption of negotiations?
