Christodoulides arrives in Turkey for Cop31 summit

President Nikos Christodoulides on Tuesday evening arrived in the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya ahead of his planned presence at the United Nations’ Cop31 climate summit, which is being held in the city. He was greeted upon his arrival by Greece’s ambassador in Turkey Theodoros Bizakis and Mehmet Ali Kahraman, the director of Turjey’s Cop31 presidency office, before he and the rest of the Cypriot delegation travelled to their hotel, where they will stay the night ahead of Wednesday’s Cop31 global leaders’ summit – the centrepiece of the Cop31 event. Christodoulides is the fourth sitting president of Cyprus to visit Turkey, with Archbishop Makarios, Glafcos Clerides, and his immediate predecessor Nicos Anastasiades all having made trips to Cyprus’ neighbour to the north during their terms in office. However, given that Cyprus is not recognised by Turkey, he could not fly to Antalya directly, despite the fact that the city is visible from the hills above Kyrenia on a clear night. Instead, he and the rest of the Cyprus delegation flew from Larnaca westwards to the Greek island of Rhodes, which itself lies west of Antalya, before then heading back eastwards to Turkey’s fourth-largest city. In addition, he is not the only Cypriot leader who has made the trip to Antalya, with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman also set to be in attendance at the Cop31 summit. More to follow…