President would meet Tatar “tomorrow”

Although UN diplomacy has failed to achieve a breakthrough in restarting Cyprus talks, President Nikos Christodoulides said he is ready to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar “even tomorrow”.

He told journalists that he has repeatedly expressed his readiness to meet Tatar in public.

“I have conveyed my desire to him as well, either for a social meeting or in the framework of the resumption of talks (on the Cyprus problem),” said Christodoulides.

He has proposed “a joint visit to the anthropological lab for the issue of missing persons, an issue which is humanitarian and not at all political expressing.

“On my part, I am ready for such a visit even tomorrow”.

He said history proves wrong those who consider or imagine that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots cannot co-exist, and the future will also prove them wrong.

Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results.

The last round of UN-backed negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana, failed to produce results.

According to diplomats, Tatar has shown no willingness to sit down with Christodoulides or attend any social engagement.