Nicosia: Possible dates for the next meeting between President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, and Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhurman, will be discussed next week, CNA has learned. Sources have told the Agency that both Christodoulides and Erhurman have expressed the wish to meet the soonest possible.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the two leaders' latest meeting took place on April 6 at the UNSG Special Representative Khassim Diagne's residence, located in the Nicosia UN-controlled buffer zone. President Christodoulides stated after the meeting that they had a productive discussion and addressed substantive issues extensively. He also noted that the leaders exchanged views on confidence-building measures and ongoing topics, instructing their negotiators to finalize any possible agreements.
President Christodoulides mentioned there has been progress on some issues and anticipated a meeting around the end of April. The context of these discussions is the long-standing division of Cyprus since 1974, following Turkey's invasion and occupation of its northern third. Numerous UN-led peace talks have yet to produce a solution, largely attributed to Turkish intransigence. The most recent negotiations, held in July 2017 at Crans-Montana, Switzerland, concluded without success.