President Nikos Christodoulides on Thursday promised “further policies” to aid displaced persons and their descendants at a meeting with mukhtars-in-exile.

“We will look at the issues which concern you and we will move forward. We have some thoughts on further policies which we will announce within the framework of our policy for displaced persons,” he said.

He added that it is “important” for his policies for displaced persons to “have a connection with the new generation”.

He pointed out that “many” young descendants of displaced persons were not born in the north and said that as such, “it is important for the bond to be there, to be strengthened”.

That bond, he said, “is decisive in the effort we are making to resolve the Cyprus problem”.

“It is within this framework that I insisted during the local government elections that there be mass participation, especially for the occupied villages and municipalities,” he said.

The most recent local elections were held in June last year, and at that time, Christodoulides had warned that “a small turnout at the polls will not send positive messages at all.”

“I am sure you understand the importance, the need, and the messages which will be sent in relation to … the Cyprus problem, for there to be massive participation in the elections,” he said.

More recently, he met Famagusta’s Greek Cypriot city council-in-exile and expressed to them optimism that “we can solve the Cyprus problem and reunite our homeland”.

“I believe that if we reflect on where we were in March 2023 and where we are today, the situation allows us to be cautiously optimistic that the conditions can be created for the resumption of talks,” he said.

He added that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “absolutely committed to the solution of the Cyprus problem on the basis of the agreed framework, as he himself stated”, with that framework consisting of a bizonal, bicommunal federation.

He is due to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar between September 22 and September 26 on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York.

A further enlarged meeting, attended by representatives of the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN, is set take place later this year.

It is believed that the next enlarged meeting will take place after the forthcoming Turkish Cypriot leadership election, which is set to be held on October 19. In that election, pro-federal solution candidate Tufan Erhurman is set to challenge Tatar, who favours a two-state solution.