Nicosia places hope in Erdogan’s Greece visit

A visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Greece later this month will hopefully produce some results in relation to efforts for a Cyprus settlement, government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said on Friday.

The spokesman was speaking after a meeting between President Nicos Anastasiades and US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Jonathan Cohen in Nicosia. On top of bilateral relations, the two reportedly discussed efforts to reunite the ethnically-split island, energy, and developments in the Middle East region.

“The expected meeting between the Greek Prime Minister [Alexis Tsipras] and the Turkish president is important and we hope it would yield certain results,” said Christodoulides, putting emphasis on the chapters of security and guarantees.

The latest round of reunification talks broke down at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana in July, with each side blaming the other for the collapse.