President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, pointed out four positive outcomes, following his first meeting with the new Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhurman, on Thursday morning.
Speaking to the Media at the Presidential Palace he noted that the upcoming joint meeting with UNSG Personal Envoy, Maria Angela Holguin, in December, after her separate meetings with President Christodoulides and Tufan Erhurman on December 6 and 5 respectively, is one of the positive developments.
Other positive developments, according to the President, are the resumption of the meetings between the negotiators of the two communities, ahead of the upcoming meeting under the UNSG in a broader format, Holguin’s upcoming visits to Greece and Turkey in December and the visit of EU Special Envoy on Cyprus, Johannes Hahn, also in December.
President Christodoulides described as “positive, the fact that we are entering a procedure which aims to achieve our key goal, the resumption of talks from where they stopped in Crans-Montana.”
Asked about the possibility of a meeting in a broader format within 2025, the President said that during the meeting he conveyed his readiness for such a prospect and added that Holguin will examine the issue with the UNSG and the other interested parties.
He added that what he keeps is the understanding of the importance of the resumption of talks and noted that “that is where we will all be judged, where the true prospect will show.”
Responding to journalists’ questions, the President said that despite the fact that his first meeting with Erhurman was not one of a social nature, it did not involve negotiations. He said that both him and the Turkish Cypriot leader raised various issues.
He confirmed, following a question about any discussions on confidence-building measures during the meeting, that CBMs were indeed one of the topics discussed, particularly the ones which have been agreed at the meetings under the UNSG. President Christodoulides noted that CBMs are especially important now “after the change of the leadership in the Turkish Cypriot community and the latest developments, along the process for the resumption of talks.”
Asked if there is a common understanding with Erhurman about the point from which talks should resume, he noted that his understanding, from what he has heard, is that “the acquis is important.”
President Christodoulides also said, following another question, that he suggested actions that should be taken and noted others that should be avoided, in order to pave the way towards the resumption of talks. “I am here for a positive outcome and any decision, any action aims for exactly that, the resumption of talks,” he said.
Replying to a question on whether the issue of crossing points was mentioned during the meeting with Erhurman, President Chistodoulides said that the Turkish Cypriot leader did speak about it, but added that this is something that the negotiators will discuss during their meetings.
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.