Cyprus leaders agree two new crossings

The leaders of Cyprus and the Turkish-speaking north agreed Monday to open two new crossing points on the divided island as part of efforts to revive reunification talks.

Nikos Christodoulides, president of the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus in the Greek-speaking south, met Tufan Erhurman, the pro-unification leader of the Turkish-speaking north, in the UN-controlled buffer zone. UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin also attended.

A brief UN statement called the discussions positive and said the two leaders also discussed opening other crossing points before a trilateral meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the coming weeks.

The UN said the two agreed crossings, one west of Nicosia and one to its southeast, will be opened simultaneously. No date was given. Christodoulides said the opening would happen once the necessary preparatory work had been completed.

Cyprus has been split since 1974, when Turkey invaded and seized its northern third in response to a coup instigated by the then-military government in Greece. Decades of talks have failed to reunify the island, with the last official round collapsing in 2017.

Nine crossings between the two sides have operated since 2003, when the previously closed frontier was opened. The last new crossing opened in 2018.