He had his first meeting after his election as President of the Republic of Cyprus and before officially taking office today Nikos Christodoulidis with the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.

The meeting between the two men took place at the home of the special representative of the UN Secretary General in Cyprus, Colin Stewart, located in the area of ​​the old Nicosia airport, which is under the protection of the United Nations.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the United Nations states:

“Today Ersin Tatar and Nikos Christodoulidis met for the first time under the auspices of the Deputy Special Adviser to the Secretary General for Cyprus, Mr. Colin Stewart. They had an informal discussion that was open and constructive. Mr. Christodoulidis and Mr. Tatar addressed various issues, including the recent devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria that claimed thousands of lives among Turkish Cypriots, and expressed their sympathy for the victims and their families.”

As stated by both Mr. Christodoulidis and Ersin Tatar, the meeting went very well, while Mr. Stewart also made a similar statement.

In his statements before his departure for the old Nicosia airport, Mr. Christodoulidis noted:

“I’m not here to play any blame game. I’m interested in the substance, I’m interested in the results, I’m interested in achieving our goal, which is nothing more than breaking the impasse.” He added that this is “not an easy goal. I know the facts very well but that does not mean that we will stop this effort. No one wants more than us for the dialogue to resume and for us to achieve a solution to the Cyprus issue within the framework of the agreed framework”.

Mr. Christodoulidis was accompanied by the negotiator of the Greek side Menelaos Menelaou and Marilena Raunas, who will assume the duties of director of his Diplomatic Office. The Turkish leader was accompanied by his negotiator Ergun Olgun.