Since this morning, the President of the Nikos Christodoulides, following last night’s meeting between the heads of the European institutions and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the NATO summit held in Ankara.

According to reports, the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council provided an update on the discussions held during the meeting, after which they issued a joint statement on social media thanking Erdoğan for the warm welcome in Ankara and emphasizing that “the European Union and Turkey are strategic partners, and we are committed to strengthening our relationship.” As they note, “in an increasingly challenging world, our partnership is more important than ever.”

“Turkey has been an important partner in addressing crises in the Middle East and in supporting efforts toward a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” they added, concluding the post with a reference to the Cyprus issue: “We must also capitalize on the renewed momentum to advance a settlement of the Cyprus issue through the process under the auspices of the UN.”

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As political editor Giorgos Georgiadis reported on the Alpha News program, the dialogue with Ursula von der Leyen and Costa was primarily led by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, as Mr. Erdogan stated he was exhausted from the grueling meetings he had with world leaders on the sidelines of the NATO Summit.

According to reports, Mr. Erdogan appears to have made it clear that there must first be tangible signs of goodwill from Brussels before any progress can be made on the Cyprus issue.

Nikos Christodoulides and Ursula von der Leyen have already agreed to meet in person on July 13 in Paris, on the sidelines of events marking the anniversary of French Independence.

Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on the Cyprus issue, María Ángela Olguín, will meet with Mr. Costa in Brussels to assess the situation.

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