President Nikos Christodoulides on Wednesday dismissed reports that he had not held a discussion with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Paris the day prior, pointing to video and photographic evidence of the pair in conversation at the day’s Bastille Day celebrations.

“I said that there were no talks, but that there was a discussion. You can see it from the video. I did not imagine the discussion, nor the photograph. It is not the product of AI,” he said.

He added that his discussion was “very brief”, and that “on the occasion of all these developments, actions, the movements of the United Nations secretary-general, but also the movements on the part of the European Union, and we had an exchange of views”.

His response comes after Turkish news website GDH quoted Turkish diplomatic sources as having denied that a discussion took place.

“The Greek Cypriot leader approached Fidan in a way which would be visible to the cameras during the meeting in Paris and tried to engage him in conversation. This is not the first time this has happened – similar attempts occurred at other meetings as well,” the sources were quoted as having said.

They reportedly added that “we understand that [Christodoulides] wanted to convey topics from his own agenda”, but that Fidan “clearly indicated that he did not wish to speak with the Greek Cypriot leader”.

Away from the matter of his discussion with Fidan, Christodoulides said that there are “several developments” on the Cyprus problem, and that “in the coming days, we will hear other news which will demonstrate this mobility”.

This “mobility”, he said, is something “upon which we are continuing to work so that it is transformed into concrete results”, which, he said, are “nothing more than the resumption of talks from the point at which they were interrupted, for a solution which is fully compatible with the principles, values, and laws of the European Union”.

Asked if a date had been set for an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, he said that “announcements will be made by those who are the protagonists”.

He added that he is “glad” to see “such interest from the European Union’s side” in the Cyprus problem, following the appointment of Raffaele Fitto as envoy.

“When we started, there was no prospect of resuming talks and through hard work, through the recognition of our political will, through movements at the European and international level, there is mobility,” he said.

Then asked whether the timing of Fitto’s appointment infers that developments may be coming soon, he said, “I said a while ago that we will have a summer in which we will all be vigilant”.

“Besides, in the effort to resolve the Cyprus problem, there is no different approach, whether it is summer, winter, or autumn,” he said.

He was also asked about reports which surfaced both in reports which surfaced both in Politis and in British newspaper the Independent regarding the prospect of a “looser” solution to the Cyprus problem and said only that “not everything that the article mentions exists”.