Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman and Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides will meet in the island’s buffer zone on Aug. 26 to discuss preparations for a possible meeting with the three guarantor powers, Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.
The meeting will be the leaders’ first bilateral encounter since United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ historic visit to Cyprus, during which he sought to revive efforts to resolve the long-running dispute on the divided island.
“I have the consensus of both sides and the guarantors to move into a 5+1 meeting but with adequate preparation,” Guterres said, referring to a format that would bring together the Turkish Cypriot and
Greek Cypriot leaders with representatives from Türkiye, Greece and the U.K..
Guterres’ visit marked the first trip to Cyprus by a sitting U.N. secretary-general in 16 and a half years. The last serving U.N. chief to visit the island was Ban Ki-moon, who traveled to Cyprus in early 2010.
According to reports from the island, Erhürman and Christodoulides are expected to assess the possibility of holding a meeting in the 5+1 format.
