Turkish Cyprus President Tufan Erhürman and Greek Cypriot Leader Nikos Christodoulides walk together during their official meeting in the UN buffer zone in Nicosia.
Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman has said the leaders of the ethnically-divided island have agreed to meet once a week, and more frequently if necessary, as part of efforts to resolve the longstanding issues between the two sides.
Erhürman and his Greek Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides, met in the buffer zone on Aug. 26., with the talks lasting three hours. The meeting marked the leaders’ first bilateral encounter since United Nations Secretary-Genera Antonio Guterres’ historic visit to Cyprus, during which he sought to reinvigorate efforts to resolve the decades-old dispute over the divided island.
At their Aug. 26 meeting, the two leaders agreed to hold talks on a weekly basis, with additional meetings to be scheduled if developments on the agenda require them.
“The table is a negotiating table, and things are said face to face,” Erhürman said.
Erhürman also outlined a number of areas in which the Turkish Cypriot side is prepared to make progress as part of confidence-building measures.
He said the Turkish Cypriot side was ready to advance efforts on clearing landmines, opening new crossing points, securing citizenship rights for children born of mixed marriages, addressing sports-related issues, and establishing joint mechanisms to tackle irregular migration and natural disasters.
Erhürman stressed that the resolution process should be underpinned by tangible confidence-building steps that can generate trust between the two sides.
“Political equality is not a matter for give-and-take,” he said.
The two leaders also discussed preparations for a possible meeting with the three guarantor powers, Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.
Following the meeting, a statement issued by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) said the two leaders’ efforts to reach a solution to the Cyprus issue were welcomed. It also confirmed that the leaders had agreed to meet once a week to make progress toward resolving the Cyprus issue.
The Cyprus dispute has remained unresolved for more than half a century despite repeated U.N.-brokered peace initiatives. The most recent comprehensive round of negotiations collapsed in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in 2017 without producing a settlement.
Türkiye launched the 1974 Peace Operation following a coup backed by the military junta in Greece that sought to unite Cyprus with Greece. Ankara carried out the operation to restore constitutional order and protect the Turkish Cypriot community after years of intercommunal violence. Following the partition of the island, the Turkish Cypriot side is recognized solely by Ankara.
