Sofia, Bulgaria. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis discussed the Cyprus problem on Wednesday during a meeting on the sidelines of the South-East European Cooperation Process summit in Sofia. Reports said the two reviewed developments on Cyprus ahead of separate meetings with United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin next week.
Diplomatic contacts in Sofia
Multiple news outlets reported that Fidan and Gerapetritis reviewed developments on Cyprus during their meeting in the Bulgarian capital. An enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem is expected to be convened next month or in August.
Holguin’s recent meetings
Holguin met Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman and President Nikos Christodoulides on Monday. After those meetings, she said she was “quite positive and optimistic”.
Expectations for an enlarged meeting
Both leaders stressed that they want the next enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem to produce tangible results. Christodoulides said after his meeting with Holguin that “the goal is to lead us into an enlarged meeting, during which the resumption of talks will be announced”.
Erhurman made no statements after his meeting with Holguin. However, he said during an appearance on political talk show Er Meydani on Tuesday that an enlarged meeting must “yield meaningful results”.
“What those meaningful results are will be clarified through preliminary studies. If they point to the meeting being held by the end of June or mid-July, that is fine, but if something meaningful is not ready by August, then it could be delayed until September … We need to be truly prepared to go there and achieve meaningful results,” he said.
Turkey’s reported position
The meetings come after sources informed the Cyprus Mail that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has approved the “new initiative” being undertaken by the United Nations to help bring about a resumption of formal negotiations on the Cyprus problem.
Erdogan is said to believe that the absence of a solution to the Cyprus problem has “unduly cost Turkey through no fault of its own” in recent decades.
The sources said Turkey’s support for both the 2004 referendum and the 2017 negotiations, both of which were rejected by the Greek Cypriot side, showed Erdogan’s “pragmatic and constructive stance” and “will to engage in the hope of securing a solution to the Cyprus problem”.
Broader regional relations
While progress on the Cyprus problem may be appearing more likely, relations between Turkey and Greece have appeared somewhat strained in recent months. Turkey has announced plans to pass the “maritime jurisdiction law” through its parliament.
