President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman will meet under United Nations auspices on Tuesday, 20 October, at 11am, following their joint appearance at a bicommunal peace festival in Pyla on Saturday.
The meeting comes as efforts continue to restart negotiations on the Cyprus problem, with the Republic of Cyprus saying it is seeking a resumption of talks from where they left off, within the agreed framework.
According to Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis, the Greek Cypriot side will attend Tuesday’s meeting with a constructive approach and specific proposals aimed at achieving meaningful progress.
Letymbiotis expressed confidence that substantive dialogue could help create the conditions for the next steps towards restarting negotiations.
Leaders attend peace festival in Pyla
Christodoulides and Erhurman attended the sixth Bicommunal Peace Festival in Pyla on Saturday evening, 17 October, in a joint appearance intended to promote peace and cooperation between the island’s two communities.
The event took place in the mixed village inside the UN buffer zone, where Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots live alongside one another.
Speaking at the festival, Christodoulides said their presence sent a message of peace, coexistence and the need to reunify Cyprus.
He stressed that such gatherings were important but insufficient on their own to resolve the Cyprus problem, adding that political will was essential to achieving progress.
Previous meeting under UN auspices
The two leaders last held formal talks on 13 October in the UN Protected Area in Nicosia.
In a joint statement following that meeting, the United Nations said the discussions had taken place in a positive atmosphere and confirmed that Christodoulides and Erhurman had agreed to meet again the following week.
They also agreed to attend the Pyla festival and jointly participate in forthcoming meetings of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage, the Technical Committee on Youth and the Steering Committee of the Civil Society Consultative Body.
The UN statement said both leaders were looking forward to the upcoming visit of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus, María Ángela Holguín.
Following the 13 October meeting, Christodoulides said the discussions had covered the negotiating process, substantive aspects of the Cyprus problem and confidence-building measures.
He also said he had raised 19 proposals, receiving positive responses to some, negative responses to others, while Erhurman had requested more time to consider certain issues.
Differences remain over restarting negotiations
Despite the recent meetings, differences remain between the two sides over the conditions for resuming formal negotiations.
On Sunday, 18 October, Christodoulides criticised what he described as attempts by the Turkish Cypriot side to impose preconditions for restarting talks, particularly concerning the issue of a rotating presidency.
He argued that such matters should be discussed at the negotiating table rather than settled in advance.
The president also clarified that his 19 proposals had been conveyed orally to Erhurman rather than submitted in writing.
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