A new meeting over the possible opening of new crossing points between Cyprus’ two sides will take place next week, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said on Wednesday.

Speaking upon his return to Cyprus after the conclusion of the week’s enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, he said a “new path has been entered”.

Of the meeting itself, he said, “I want to think it was beneficial”, while insisting that his policy of demanding a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem and refusing to enter official negotiations until the Turkish Cypriot side’s sovereign equality and equal international status has been affirmed is bearing fruit.

“This was a national policy, and progress is being made in this direction with Turkey’s support. Much progress has been made in the last four years, and we went to this meeting with a new understanding of our national policy,” he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had announced on Tuesday that four new crossing points will open between Cyprus’ two sides as a result of the enlarged meeting.

Undersecretary of the north’s ‘foreign ministry’ Mustafa Lakadamyali confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that each of the island’s two sides has been given the right to open two crossing points.

He said the Turkish Cypriot side has elected to open a crossing point in the eastern Nicosia suburb of Mia Milia and in the village of Louroujina, which will connect to nearby Lympia.

He added that President Nikos Christodoulides will propose two other crossing points “in the coming period”, but that it is not yet clear where they will be.

“It is understood that they are not the transit passages previously proposed, but two new crossing points,” he said, referring to the previously suggested crossing points near Athienou and Kokkina.

Tatar had earlier protested that those two crossing points were “transit roads” connecting the Republic with other parts of the Republic, rather than crossing points designed to facilitate passage between the island’s two sides.

“We wanted a crossing point at Mia Milia, while the Greek Cypriot side wanted to transit through the Turkish military areas near Athienou and Kokkina. This is unacceptable,” he said in December.