The newly elected President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, spoke over the phone with Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, on Monday.
According to Ekathimerini, Tatar congratulated Christodoulides on his election win during the telephone call. Christodoulides clinched victory against independent candidate Andreas Mavroyiannis in a closely fought election run-off on Sunday.
In turn, Christodoulides expressed his condolences to the Turkish Cypriot community and the families of the victims of the deadly earthquake in Turkey.
Referring to the Cyprus issue, Christodoulides emphasised to Tatar that the current state of affairs is not to the benefit of either of the two communities. At the same time, he expressed his readiness for the resumption of talks on the basis of an agreed solution to the Cyprus problem.
“He [Christodoulides] said he would be ready to meet, even before March 1, and would reiterate this through the UN,” a spokesman from Christodoulides’ office said, referring to the date the President-elect formally takes over the presidency.
Source: Ekathimerini.
