Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades met with Turkish Cypriot politicians representing one of the smaller political parties in the North. ‘Cyprus Mail’ reports that the meeting was held at the presidential palace.
Anastasiades spoke to Cemal Ozyigit (above) leader of the Turkish Cypriot Social Democratic Party (TDP), along with two other TDP members, Deniz Birinci, and Zeki Celer,
Speaking in Turkish through an interpreter, Ozyigit said the TDP delegation had exchanged views with Anastasiades on the Cyprus issue and the changes on the political scene in Turkey after Tayyip Erdogan’s election as President. Erdogan is due to visit North Cyprus on Monday.
Ozyigit said he and Anastasiades had also discussed confidence-building measures. He said he supported Anastasiades’ call for the return of the fenced-off ghost town of Varosha, however, this should be in return for direct flights to Ercan airport and trade through Famagusta port.
The TDP leader spoke to journalists after the meeting and said that he hoped the negotiations would enter a new phase starting on 2nd September 2, when both Presidents Nicos Anastasiades and Dervis Eroglu, are due to meet after the summer break to try and resume the stalled negotiations.
At the same time, chief negotiators, Andreas Mavroyiannis and Kudret Ozersay, held their first meeting since the summer recess in the UN Protected Area at Nicosia airport.
A brief statement issued by the UN said that the negotiators exchanged views on methodology and the way forward in preparation for the upcoming leaders’ meeting. It also said the UN would hold bilateral meetings with both negotiators in the coming days to continue the preparations for the meeting.
Kudret Ozersay who spoke about the four hour meeting said they had discussed the UN’s role in the next phase in view of recent appointment of Norwegian Espen Barth Eide as the new UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy to Cyprus, and how the talks could be speeded up.
They also discussed how to proceed with the negotiations themselves which have reached a stalemate owing to certain issues on which neither side will compromise.
