Cyprus leaders agree to open two crossings
Nikos Christodoulides and Tufan Erhurman agreed to open the crossings simultaneously and to meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the coming weeks.
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Nikos Christodoulides and Tufan Erhurman agreed to open the crossings simultaneously and to meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the coming weeks.
Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman agreed on 9 November to open two crossings across Cyprus’s dividing line at the same time. They met UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin in the UN-controlled buffer zone; no opening date has been confirmed.
The last official round of reunification talks collapsed in 2017, and the sides have disagreed over the ground rules for renewed negotiations. Guterres began a new effort in the summer, suggesting that crossings could build trust.
One crossing would connect the Turkish Cypriot village of Louroujina with the Greek Cypriot village of Lympia. The other would link Karavostasi, on Morphou Bay, with Kambos in the Troodos foothills, Cyprus Mail said. Both crossings must be ready to open simultaneously.
UN peacekeeping spokesman Aleem Siddique said the technical committee on crisis management would create a mechanism for rapid emergency response. The leaders also agreed to share archival material through the technical committee on cultural heritage and to move ahead with projects through the technical committee on the environment.
Siddique said the Imagine education program, involving both communities, would restart under the technical committee on education. It had been frozen since the Turkish Cypriot side withdrew in 2022.
The cultural heritage committee will also restore specified Maronite churches and an Armenian monastery, Siddique said. Cyprus Mail said the monastery was understood to be Sourp Magar in the Kyrenia district, where earlier work stalled after a dispute between the UN Development Programme and its contractor.
A Greek Cypriot–Turkish Cypriot power-sharing administration fell apart in 1963. Cyprus was divided in 1974, when Turkey invaded and seized the north after a coup instigated by Greece’s then-military government. Only Turkey recognizes the north as an independent republic.
Al Jazeera said Greek Cypriots oppose hands-on Turkish involvement in a settlement, while Turkish Cypriots consider it essential. The north elected a pro-unification leader in 2025, its first since 2020.
The two leaders are to meet Guterres in the coming weeks, although a date has not been confirmed. Christodoulides said his goal was to resume talks before the secretary-general’s term ends at the end of 2026.
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