Nicosia, Cyprus. Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Friday met three of his four living predecessors as efforts continued on the island and abroad to resume negotiations on the Cyprus problem. He met Mehmet Ali Talat, Mustafa Akinci and Ersin Tatar.
Meetings with former leaders
No public comment was made regarding the content of the meetings. Erhurman’s office said a planned meeting with former Turkish Cypriot leader Dervish Eroglu had been postponed to a later date because of health problems being experienced by Eroglu, who is 88 years old.
Diplomatic contacts continue
The meetings took place as President Nikos Christodoulides is expected to convene the National Council next week, and as United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin is expected in Brussels in the coming days for meetings with European Union leaders.
Holguin travelled this week to Ankara and Athens for meetings with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis. She was in Cyprus last week for meetings with both Christodoulides and Erhurman.
Plans for enlarged meeting
Holguin is expected to return to the island before the end of this month. She confirmed last week that an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem is currently intended to be convened either in late July or early August, involving the island’s two sides, the three guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the UN.
This latest round of contacts comes as the UN has undertaken what was described as a “new initiative” aimed at bringing about a resumption of formal negotiations.
Calls for results
Both leaders have stressed that they will seek tangible results from the next enlarged meeting when it takes place. After his meeting with Holguin, Christodoulides said “the goal is to lead us into an enlarged meeting, during which the resumption of talks will be announced”.
Erhurman convened a meeting of Turkish Cypriot political parties on Tuesday and stressed the need for “results” to be achieved at the next enlarged meeting.
“It should not be a five-plus-one for just for the sake of a five-plus-one. It should be a five-plus-one so that results are achieved,” he told a press conference after the meeting.
UN and Turkey discuss Cyprus
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone call on Monday night to discuss the Cyprus problem, hours after Fidan had met Holguin.