Erdogan to receive Turkish Cypriot leader on Monday

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar will meet with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday ahead of informal talks in Geneva on the Cyprus issue.

Tatar revealed the news Wednesday during a cabinet meeting he chaired for the first time since taking office in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

During his visit, the two leaders will evaluate the new policy of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side of a two-state solution and cooperation based on sovereign equality on the island, he said.

The informal Geneva talks will be held from April 27-29 with the participation of the guarantor countries including Turkey, Greece and the UK under the leadership of the UN.

Last week, Turkey's foreign minister reaffirmed the format of the talks.

"The meeting in Geneva will be informal. There will be no new negotiations to be held there," Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a joint news conference with Tatar following their talks in Lefkosa.

"We believe that we will no longer waste time on the federal solution and that new ideas and a new vision should be discussed," he said.

The Geneva talks will seek a common ground for negotiations, Cavusoglu said.

"We definitely and certainly will not continue where we left off at [the] Crans-Montana [talks]. This is out of the question," he added.

The 2017 Crans-Montana conference in Switzerland was held with the participation of the guarantor countries but failed after the Greek Cypriot side left the table.

In Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, the Geneva talks and various topics including coronavirus measures were discussed.

Cyprus issue

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long struggle between Greek and Turkish Cypriots despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

The island has been divided since 1964 when ethnic attacks forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw to enclaves for their safety. In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aiming at Greece’s annexation led to Turkey’s military intervention as a guarantor power. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was founded in 1983.

The Greek Cypriot administration, backed by Greece, became a member of the European Union in 2004, although most Greek Cypriots rejected a UN settlement plan in a referendum that year which had envisaged a reunited Cyprus joining the European Union.