The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, met with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai.

President Christodoulides also had a short meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis told CNA that Christodoulides and the SG “discussed the latest developments in Agios Dometios buffer zone.”

The Spokesperson said the President raised with the SG the need to appoint an envoy as soon as possible to look into the prospects of resuming negotiations from where they have been left off.

Replying to a question about a video on social media which shows President Christodoulides conversing with Erdogan Letymbiotis said that the President “indeed met with the Turkish President and that the meeting lasted a few minutes.”

The President of the Republic is expected to hold bilateral meetings with heads of state taking part in the summit.

President Christodoulides had said on Thursday that measures were put in place by the Republic of Cyprus in response to Turkish violations in the buffer zone. The measures were taken after the latest incident involving a violation of the status quo of the buffer zone in the Agios Dometios area, in Nicosia, by the Turkish army.

Cyprus has been divided since the 1974 illegal Turkish invasion. Numerous peace talks under the UN aegis with the aim to reunite the island under a federal roof failed to yield results. The latest round of talks took place in the summer of 2017 in the Swiss resort of Crans Montana.