The first meeting between the President of the Republic and the Turkish Cypriot leader is currently underway, following the UN Secretary-General’s historic visit to Cyprus.
Tufan Erhürman was the first to arrive at the offices of the United Nations Good Offices Mission, followed shortly thereafter by the President of the Republic.
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The President of the Republic is looking forward to a substantive discussion and meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, as he emphasized in remarks made at the Presidential Palace before departing for the offices of the United Nations Good Offices Mission, located in the airport area of the Nicosia Buffer Zone.
Speaking to reporters, the President noted, among other things, that the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, María Ángela Olguín, is expected in Cyprus in early September, while at the same time, UN preparations regarding the meetings are at a very advanced stage, a matter that will be discussed by the two leaders at today’s meeting.
“I look forward to a substantive discussion and a substantive meeting,” she noted, expressing the hope that this will mark the beginning of more intensive consultations and serve as an “informal milestone during UN General Assembly week, when I will be in New York and will meet with the UN Secretary-General.”
He added that after the General Assembly week in New York concludes, Erhurman will also be there to meet with the Secretary-General and “there we will brief him separately on the results of these intensive consultations, which I hope today will mark the beginning of intensive and effective consultations in the direction we agreed upon when the UN Secretary-General was here.”
“Moving forward, we expect Ms. Olgin to visit Cyprus in early September; UN preparations are at a very advanced stage regarding the meetings—this is something I will also raise today, and we will discuss it today as well, so that the conditions can be created to achieve what the UN Secretary-General requested: the resumption of talks from where they were suspended in 2017.”
When asked to comment on the fact that the meeting is taking place in a tense atmosphere, following the cancellation of an event in occupied Kyrenia and the reactions to upcoming events, the President replied that “illegality is one thing, and illegal actions are entirely different from the effort to begin talks and, even more so, to achieve a resolution of the Cyprus problem, so that there are no issues arising as a result of illegal actions”.
