Turkish FM Fidan meets Erhurman ahead of trilateral talks

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Friday, days before a trilateral meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides and UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin. Head of the president’s press office, Victor Papadopoulos, called the visit “illegal and deplorable”, telling CyBC radio that Fidan’s presence “indicates that the key to the solution of the Cyprus problem lies in Ankara, where the decisions are taken”. Papadopoulos said UN efforts had reached a “critical point”, with the next step, being an expanded meeting with Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the EU, which would decide whether negotiations resume. He said Christodoulides’s 19 proposals offered “a way out of the deadlock” over methodology, substance and confidence-building measures. Turkish media reported that Holguin had set both sides a Friday deadline to respond on confidence-building measures, including four new crossing points and large-scale demining. Christodoulides said she had told him specific announcements could come over the weekend. Local media reported that Ankara’s messages to Holguin, relayed through its ambassador, suggest Turkey has given a ‘green light’ to progress on the measures. A new crossing near Kampos, in the Lefka area, is being discussed as an alternative to Kokkina, though communities in Tillyria and Polis Chrysochous have said they will not accept Kokkina being replaced.