Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman (L), Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus Khassim Diagne (C), and Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides pose for a photo in Nicosia, Cyprus
NICOSIA, Nov 21 (NNN-XINHUA) — The leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities on Thursday agreed to work toward reviving long-stalled reunification talks, the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) said.
The meeting brought together Nikos Christodoulides, president of the Republic of Cyprus, and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman for the first time since Erhurman’s election in October.
Following the talks, UNFICYP said the leaders pledged to push forward efforts aimed at restarting the United Nations-led peace process, which has remained frozen since Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriot side withdrew from negotiations on a federal settlement.
The mission added that the leaders “expressed their readiness to work towards the next informal meeting in a broader format to be convened by the UN secretary-general.”
According to a UN spokesperson, the two sides also agreed to explore the possibility of holding further meetings ahead of a planned visit early next month by an envoy of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and to advance confidence-building measures to bring the two communities closer.
Both sides said they had submitted separate proposals aimed at creating conditions for the resumption of formal negotiations.
Cyprus has remained divided since 1974, when Türkiye launched a military operation on the island following a brief coup backed by the then-ruling military junta in Greece.
The most recent round of UN-led talks collapsed during an international conference in Switzerland in 2017, when the Turkish side rejected a UN framework for a federal, power-sharing arrangement and instead called for a two-state solution. — NNN-XINHUA
