Nicosia: President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, said on Wednesday that his main goal in calling for a meeting with Turkish Cypriot Leader, Tufan Erhurman, on Monday, is to exchange views on the issues the President had discussed in March with the UN Secretary General, regarding the steps forward for a positive outcome for the Cyprus question.
According to Cyprus News Agency, President Christodoulides, while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of an event in Nicosia commemorating the start of the anti-colonial struggle in Cyprus, mentioned that he is open to discuss any other subject that the Turkish Cypriot leader may wish to set during their meeting. "I requested this meeting with Erhurman, we will meet on Monday, and the main goal is to have an exchange of views on what I discussed with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on how there will be substantial progress towards the resumption of talks and a resolution of the Cyprus question, without ruling out the discussion of any other subject that Erhurman may wish to raise," he said.
Furthermore, he expressed satisfaction with the results of the contacts concerning the Cyprus question so far, stating that upgrading the status of the Republic of Cyprus is one of the main priorities of the government. He added that these are not their own assessments, but what they hear from European partners and the international community.
When asked to comment on complaints made by Turkish Cypriots who reported being banned from visiting the Hala Sultan Mosque in Larnaca for prayer, the President stated that the Republic of Cyprus ensured early communication through the United Nations that a particular procedure regularly followed through the years for these visits needed to be applied for this visit as well. He noted that some members of the Turkish Cypriot community, excluding the Turkish Cypriot leader, did not want the visit to happen and attempted to achieve the final outcome through unusual methods.