Nicosia: The President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, announced his intention to approach the upcoming meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhrman, with the goal of exploring ways to resume talks from where they were left off in Crans-Montana. President Christodoulides emphasized his readiness to discuss confidence-building measures and introduced several new ideas.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the President made these statements while attending the General Assembly of the Cyprus Property Developers Association in Nicosia. He highlighted the importance of Thursday’s meetings concerning the Cyprus issue, describing them as critical. The discussions will include a joint visit to the CMP anthropological laboratory, symbolizing a message of collaboration with the Turkish Cypriot leader. Furthermore, the meeting marks the first in several years to include the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General.
Christodoulides acknowledged a two-and-a-half-year hiatus due to the positions held by former Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, which hindered substantive discussions on resuming talks. He expressed optimism that the upcoming meeting with Erhrman would address this significant issue and reiterated his willingness to explore confidence-building measures and new proposals alongside substantive negotiations.
Addressing the four conditions set by Erhrman, President Christodoulides asserted that there should be no conditions regarding the Cyprus issue that specifically impact the negotiation topics. He stressed that the planned discussions would focus on creating favorable conditions for resuming substantive talks.
Cyprus has remained divided since 1974 following Turkey’s invasion and occupation of its northern third. Multiple rounds of UN-led peace talks have not yielded successful outcomes, with the last negotiations in Crans-Montana in July 2017 ending without conclusion.