President Christodoulides and Tufan Erhurman agree to weekly meetings on the Cyprus issue

On August 26, 2026, President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman held their first meeting since the visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Cyprus in July. The meeting took place at the UN Good Offices mission in the Nicosia buffer zone and lasted over two and a half hours. The leaders were received by Sergey Ilarionov, the head of the UN Good Offices mission.

In a joint statement issued after the talks, the leaders agreed to intensify their diplomatic efforts by meeting at least once a week, or more frequently if circumstances require, to prepare for potential future steps in the Cyprus peace process. Additionally, they decided to announce the members of the Civil Society Advisory Council’s coordinating committee on August 27. While no immediate progress was reported on confidence-building measures, the frequency of these meetings is intended to facilitate the 'adequate progress' requested by Guterres.

President Christodoulides expressed that the process remains on the right track. Both leaders are expected to provide separate updates to Secretary-General Guterres in New York during the UN General Assembly in September. Furthermore, UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin is scheduled to visit Cyprus in early September to continue evaluating the progress and convergences between the two sides.