Ankara: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the firm and publicly stated position for the resumption of negotiations within the framework of the United Nations, from the point at which they were interrupted in 2017 in Crans Montana, during their private meeting, yesterday afternoon in Ankara, as Mitsotakis informed the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, on the sidelines of the Informal Summit in Alden Bissen on Thursday. The position was in line with consistency and previous coordination, according to a government source that spoke to CNA.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the Turkish President's response was in the same context as his previous public and private statements, without escalation or differentiation of style, and without a change in his position.
Regarding the overall assessment of the meeting, according to the same source, it leads to the conclusion that the climate of low tension and of efforts for functional communication is maintained, with the main feature being the maintenance of calm conditions at the present stage.
Moreover, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus, Konstantinos Kombos, had a telephone conversation with his Greek counterpart, Giorgos Gerapetritis, according to a social media post by the Cypriot Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday afternoon, with the aim of mutual information exchange and close coordination, as noted.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.