Christodoulides and Erhurman set for final meeting before UN Assembly

President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman will hold their last meeting before the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, September 17, with the session scheduled for 11am. Christodoulides has said the two sides do “not have a plan B”, telling Turkish Cypriot newspaper Yeni Duzen ahead of an earlier meeting this month that “the only possible solution is the reunification of Cyprus” and that “the current status quo does not allow our country to fully utilise its potential”.

Following that meeting, held at the old Nicosia airport, the president said discussions had continued across three areas, methodology, substance and confidence building measures, adding that while there was “a common understanding” on some issues, disagreements and differing approaches remained on others. Erhurman, responding after the same meeting, said he had urged Christodoulides to “refrain from initiatives which undermine trust”. He said, “while we were unable to reach an agreement on new confidence-building measures during a significant part of the meeting, we conveyed our views regarding external and internal initiatives which are eroding even the existing level of trust”. He said he had stressed the importance of creating “the conducive climate” referenced by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, adding that this required both new confidence building measures and a halt to actions that erode trust. Erhurman had earlier criticised the Republic over the cancellation of international events in the…