Oguzhan Hasipoglu was on Wednesday re-elected unopposed as secretary-general of the north’s largest political party the UBP, and after securing his re-election to the role called for Cyprus’ two sides to find ways to cooperate at next week’s enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem in the Swiss city of Geneva.

“An approach centred on cooperation between the two communities, rather than federation-based negotiations, is more realistic on the Cyprus problem. Our expectation from the Geneva meeting is that it will pave the way for joint projects between the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities,” he said.

Hasipoglu is expected to travel to Geneva for the meetings as part of a two-man UBP delegation alongside the north’s ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel.

The enlarged meeting on March 17 and 18 and will see both Cyprus’ sides as well as representatives of the island’s three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the United Nations convene to discuss the Cyprus problem.

President Nikos Christodoulides has on multiple occasions stated that it is his aim for negotiations geared towards a federal solution to continue “from where they left off in Crans Montana” in 2017, but Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said on Tuesday that “Crans Montana is over for us”.

“From now on, there will be no united Cyprus, but there will be cooperation,” he had said.