Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides met on Monday in New York with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias to brief each other on developments on the Cyprus problem and coordinate their efforts ahead of crucial meetings they will both hold this week.
The main topic of the meeting was the coordination of the foreign policy of the two countries in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, Dendias told the press after the meeting.
“We also discussed about the prospects for the resumption of the negotiating procedure, in the light of the efforts of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General (Jane Holl) Lute, from the point it stopped in Crans-Montana”, he said.
Dendias noted that despite the constructive attitude of the Republic of Cyprus, Turkey’s stance does not contribute to the resumption of the talks.
He emphasized that during the scheduled meetings of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his meeting with Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, “the Greek side will clarify to Turkey the need for its own co-operation in the context of the resumption of talks”.
In his statement, the Cypriot Foreign Minister noted that the results of the meetings that will take place during the week “are of decisive importance for the course of the Cyprus problem”.
Christodoulides said that the message they will try to get across during their meetings will be “the need for the negotiation to continue from the point it stopped in Crans Montana with one and only aim – a solution of bi-zonal bicommunal federation as it is provided by the UN resolutions”.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in the summer of 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana, ended inconclusively.
(Cyprus News Agency)
