President Ersin Tatar is meeting with Greek Cypriot Leader Nikos Christodoulides today for an informal dinner in New York.

Speaking before departing for New York, Tatar said the Turkish Cypriot side would not be withdrawing from its policy for two states, adding that “this dinner is an opportunity to explain our positions.”

The negotiating process for a solution to the Cyprus problem can only begin when the Turkish demand for sovereignty is met, President Ersin Tatar re-emphasised on Monday.

He added that he would be explaining this over Tuesday’s dinner in New York with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides, where he would also be raising the immediate commencement of direct flights and direct trade.

Tatar said any agreement from now on would have to take on the form of “cooperation between two states”.

He also said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call on the international community, during the UN general assembly, to recognise the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was “valuable for us”.

He added that a federation was no longer on their agenda during any negotiations.

Tatar said Christodoulides wanted to resume negotiations from where they left off in Crans-Montana in 2017.

“However the formal procedure of negotiations will never begin until the rights of the Turkish Cypriots are accepted and clear preconditions are met,” he said.

The conditions, he said, were “to accept Turkish Cypriot sovereignty, start direct flights and direct trade, and lift the outdated embargo, isolation and obstacles to sports, music and international negotiations.”