The aim of next month’s wider meeting on the Cyprus problem in the Swiss city of Geneva is to “resume talks from where they were interrupted in the summer of 2017”, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Tuesday.

Additionally, he said he had “suggested five specific proposals” to United Nations under-secretary-general for peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo at their meeting on Monday, but did not specify what they were.

“The holding of the enlarged conference is a positive development. From there, what I conveyed to DiCarlo is that what is important is that there is a positive result. It is precisely within this context that I suggested five specific proposals in relation to a positive result through the enlarged conference,” he said.

He added that DiCarlo had “welcomed our readiness and how specific we are”, and that he will now have “communication with the UN about the next steps”.

Asked to delve into specifics over his proposals, he said, “let DiCarlo, in the context of the preparations, sound out Turkey, and, depending on the result, we will be here to comment more specifically”.

He also disclosed that when DiCarlo visits Ankara, she will not meet Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, as he will not be in the country. Instead, he said, she will meet one of Turkey’s deputy foreign ministers.

He was then asked to comment on what Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar had said following his meeting with DiCarlo on Monday, and said, “I have heard Tatar’s statements, these are what we hear every day.

“Our homeland is under occupation and we will do everything possible to create the prospects and conditions for a positive outcome. The state of affairs is certainly not easy. I am not trying to embellish anything, but at the same time I know very well that the current state of affairs cannot be the solution to the Cyprus problem,” he said.

Tatar had told DiCarlo that the “sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people must be accepted” for there to be constructive steps to be taken towards a solution.

“The Turkish Cypriot people are the primary element in Cyprus and have an inherent right to sovereignty, and I conveyed those vital rights at the meeting,” he said.

Meanwhile, while the Greek Cypriot side and the UN did not disclose a date for the Geneva meeting, Tatar said it would take place on either March 17 or March 18.