President Nikos Christodoulides’s planned September 2 meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman has been postponed to next week, following a deadly shipwreck off occupied Kyrenia, Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said. A separate meeting between the two sides’ negotiators, also scheduled, has been postponed as well.
Negotiators are expected to be in touch within the next few days to set a new date for the Christodoulides-Erhürman meeting.
Letymbiotis said he was grieving over both Saturday’s tragedy at Cavo Greco and the tragedy in the occupied areas.
On the shipwreck, he said the Republic of Cyprus had, from the outset, offered — through UNFICYP and the competent bicommunal committee — to assist in the search and rescue effort.
He stressed that Cyprus’s willingness to help remains in place.
The shipwreck involved the catamaran Filo Jet, which was sailing from occupied Kyrenia to Taşucu, near Mersin, when it began taking on water roughly four nautical miles off the Kyrenia coast on Sunday, August 30, developed a severe list and capsized, later sinking at a depth of 514 metres.
The vessel was carrying 267 people, comprising 259 passengers and eight crew members, according to Turkey’s Interior Ministry. At least eight people have died, with 18 still missing.
Nine suspects were brought before the “Kyrenia District Court” on Monday in connection with the passenger ship disaster off Kyrenia, as arrest warrants were issued for a total of 16 people, according to Kıbrıs Postası.
