NICOSIA, Feb 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – Cyprus’ President-elect, Nikos Christodoulides, and Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, met yesterday for the first time, but failed to move any closer to restarting the long-stalled peace negotiations for the reunification of the Mediterranean island.
“They had an informal discussion, which was open and constructive,” the United Nations (UN) Peace Keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) said, in a statement.
The two met on neutral ground, at the home of Canadian diplomat, Colin Stewart, who also performs the role of deputy special adviser of the UN secretary general on Cyprus, in the UN-controlled buffer zone, dividing the capital Nicosia.
The statement said, they addressed several issues, including the recent devastating earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria. In the latter context, they expressed condolences to families of the victims.
Several Turkish Cypriots who stayed in Türkiye were killed in the quakes.
However, the statement did not provide details on the issue of restarting the negotiations for a Cyprus solution, which came to an impasse at a UN-led international conference in Switzerland, in Jul, 2017.– NNN-XINHUA
