President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman will hold their first meeting today at 9.30am, with restarting Cyprus talks remaining the key objective despite low expectations.
Beyond getting acquainted, Christodoulides and Erhürman will seek to record positions and intentions regarding the continuation of efforts. Christodoulides expressed hope that the meeting with Erhürman will produce concrete results.
The Turkish Cypriot leader believes there is a suitable atmosphere for setting up the negotiating table.
Christodoulides hopes concrete positive results will emerge from his meeting with Erhürman towards resuming negotiations from where they broke down at Crans-Montana. He noted that today’s meeting is not social in nature, even though it is their first.
“I hope, and I go to the meeting with this expectation, that there will be concrete positive results towards resuming talks from where they broke down at Crans-Montana. This is the only goal, and I go there hoping there will be a response so that we can immediately start this great effort,” he said.
“We are fully ready, and, I repeat, I hope there will be a response from the other side as well so that negotiations can start as soon as possible,” he added. He said this is also the framework the UN Secretary-General has set through meetings that took place, either trilaterally or at an expanded level, and expressed hope again for positive results after the meeting.
Erhürman sees a suitable atmosphere for the two sides to sit at the table, partly due to Turkey’s stance. According to his recent statements, Turkey “never had the approach, ‘Don’t sit at the negotiating table.'”
However, he believes expectations should not be high, and “it would be a surprise if this meeting had a result”. It is, he said, an introductory meeting, “a meeting where first views will be expressed”.
Both Christodoulides and Erhürman have repeatedly stated they are ready for talks.
Today’s meeting will provide an initial indication of progress on the Cyprus issue, but more will become clear when Maria Angela Holguin visits the island and discusses with the two leaders the holding of the next informal multilateral conference.
The UN Secretary-General said he wants the next multilateral conference to take place before the end of the year.
