Erhürman and Christodoulides to hold talks in the UN buffer zone on September 17

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman and President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides will meet on September 17 at 11:00 in the UN-controlled buffer zone. The main topics of the talks will be confidence-building measures between the two communities and the conditions needed to advance the negotiation process.

The leaders’ previous meeting took place on September 9. Following it, Erhürman said that no agreement had been reached on new confidence-building measures and stressed that the sides needed to refrain from steps that could undermine trust. The discussion of these same issues will continue today.

The sides prepared for the meeting at the leaders’ representatives’ level: negotiators Mehmet Dana for the Turkish Cypriot side and Menelaos Menelaou for the Republic of Cyprus held separate consultations on September 14.

UN Special Representative Maria Angela Holguín will not attend the talks due to illness, so the leaders will meet without a mediator.

The September 17 meeting will be Erhürman and Christodoulides’ last in-person contact before the high-level week of the UN General Assembly, which begins on September 18. Both leaders will travel to New York, where parallel talks between their representatives will also take place.