CYPRUS: Nicosia and Athens to coordinate policy on Turkey

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For the future of Cyprus talks, Nicosia attaches great importance to Thursday’s meeting between Greek Foreign Minister George Katrougalos and his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. 


Cyprus Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides said that Katrougalos will convey specific messages during that meeting. 

The Greek Foreign Minister will pay his first official visit to Cyprus since assuming his duties. Katrougalos arrives late on Monday and will have contacts with President Nicos Anastasiades and Christodoulides. 

The aim of the visit, according to Christodoulides, is to formulate precise messages ahead of Katrougalos’ meeting with Çavuşoğlu, scheduled for March 21 in Turkey.  

During discussions in Nicosia, they will examine ways to resume UN-backed Cyprus settlement talks from the point they broke-off at Crans-Montana in July 2017. They will also discuss Cyprus energy developments. 

On the Cyprus-Greece-Israel trilateral Summit, taking place in Jerusalem on Wednesday with the participation of the US Secretary of State, Christodoulides said it was important that the US was attending this meeting. 

The main topic on the agenda is, according to the Foreign Minister, cooperation on energy and maritime security in the Eastern Mediterranean.

 He expressed finally his expectation that discussions in Israel will yield specific results, which are expected to be announced through a Joint Declaration after the end of the Summit.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The las round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.