The president of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhurman, have decided this Wednesday to hold meetings, at least, once a week after a meeting sponsored by the United Nations in the separation zone between both parties of the island.
According to the UN explained in an official note, "During their meeting, they reviewed the progress regarding the way forward as defined in his recent visit to the island by the Secretary-General of the United Nations (António Guterres) and agreed to intensify their meetings and meet once a week and more frequently, as circumstances require."
Both leaders have reiterated their gratitude to Guterres for his efforts to address the Cypriot issue and for "his continued support and commitment" to the process. "They have also agreed to announce the members of the Steering Committee of the Advisory Body of Civil Society tomorrow," added the international organization.
This step comes after, at the end of July, the Secretary-General communicated that he had reached an understanding between the parties to promote a new round of talks in order to achieve a resolution to the prolonged conflict in Cyprus, divided since 1974.
The intention is to organize a meeting with the presence of the two Cypriot leaders, the guarantor countries --Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom-- and the UN special envoy, María Ángela Holguín. Guterres has called for strengthening mutual trust as a basis for those possible negotiations.
The island has remained divided since 1974 when the Turkish Army occupied the north --36.2 percent of the territory-- after a coup d'état promoted by the military junta that ruled Greece and in fear of a union of Cyprus with that country.
In 1983, the Turkish Cypriot community proclaimed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Ankara, which maintains about 35,000 soldiers deployed there. Numerous attempts, under the umbrella of the UN, to reunify this Eastern Mediterranean state into a bi-zonal federation have not prospered to date.