Meeting between AKEL and the United Cyprus Party (BKP)

 

2 October 2026, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

A delegation from AKEL, led by the General Secretary of the Party, Stefanos Stefanou, held a meeting today with a delegation from the Turkish Cypriot United Cyprus Party (BKR), led by the party’s President, Izzet Izcan.

The two parties reviewed current developments surrounding the Cyprus problems and relations between the two communities at various levels, whilst agreeing on the need to maintain their bilateral communication.

The view was common that it is disappointing that no progress has been made on the issue of resuming negotiations just a few months before the end of the UN Secretary-General’s term of office. Both Parties also agreed that it is important to make progress in the discussion on confidence-building measures, but the main focus must be on the objective of resuming negotiations from the point at which they were suspended at Crans-Montana. For that reason, the UN’s recent record of areas of convergence must be utilised.

Also present at the meeting on behalf of AKEL were the Head of the Rapprochement Bureau of the Party, Ilias Demetriou and the former member of the Greek Cypriot Negotiating Team, Toumazos Tsielepis.