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Independent (9 December 2024)

David Maddox

Keir Starmer has landed in Cyprus(*) in the midst of a diplomatic storm after he snubbed the Turkish Cypriot northern part of the island as he became the first prime minister to make an official visit for bilateral talks for more than five decades.

The prime minister is set to hold talks on Tuesday with president of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides in the Greek Cypriot controlled south of the island. But he has refused to find time for president Ersin Tatar in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on the visit even though he wants to reinitiate talks to reunite the island.

Sir Keir arrived on Monday evening after a brief tour of Arab gulf states and plans to talk to president Christodoulides about defence, trade, resetting the EU relationship after Brexit and the “Cyprus problem”.

(*) AVİM uses "Cyprus" as a geographic name. AVİM considers the expression "Republic of Cyprus" to mean the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus.

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