A delegation from the Republic’s Assembly participated in the Cyprus Facilitators Group meeting held in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of the 150th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) General Assembly.
The delegation consisted of National Unity Party MP Yasemi Ă–ztĂĽrk, Republican Turkish Party MP Salahi Ĺžahiner, and Rebirth Party MP Talip Atalay.
The meeting, moderated by Swiss diplomat Holger Wehrli and his team, brought together political representatives from both the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities.
The session focused on exchanging views to promote dialogue and cooperation between the two sides and foster mutual understanding.
This meeting followed previous sessions held in Geneva in March and October last year.
It was noted that, following a proposal by the Turkish Cypriot side, the IPU Executive Committee had decided it would be beneficial for the moderators to continue visiting both sides in Cyprus and for the Facilitators Group to convene twice a year.
However, the Greek Cypriot delegation expressed reservations, arguing that biannual meetings were unnecessary and opposed joint initiatives on areas of cooperation previously agreed by the two leaders, suggesting such matters should remain solely in the leaders’ domain.
At the conclusion of the meeting, and upon the moderator’s insistence, both sides agreed to prepare for discussions on crisis and disaster management—such as forest fires and flooding—at the next gathering.