United Nations special representative Khassim Diagne on Friday met Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu for the first time, as his contacts continue after arriving on the island to take up the role last month.

The meeting comes after Diagne had earlier in the week met Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, with the foreign ministry saying after that meeting that Kombos had “reaffirmed our commitment to the UN-agreed framework for a solution to the Cyprus issue”.

It added that Kombos had also “expressed full support” for the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp), and that the meeting was “productive”.

Diagne’s meetings come ahead of the planned arrival of UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin at the beginning of next month, with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman having said that he will most likely meet Holguin on December 5.

Holguin’s arrival on the island will come ahead of another enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, involving Cyprus’ two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the UN, which will most likely take place in January.

That enlarged meeting had initially been pencilled in to take place this month, but Erhurman requested that it be delayed so as to give him the opportunity to build closer relations with the Turkish government before talks on the Cyprus problem begin in earnest.

Those efforts began on Thursday, with Erhurman meeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

While there was some softening in Erdogan’s position, he did maintain on Thursday that “we believe that the most realistic solution lies in the coexistence of two states on the island”.

He said Turkey has “made it clear after the process collapsed in 2017” in the Swiss ski resort of Crans Montana, “when the Greek Cypriot side abandoned the negotiations, which have been ongoing since 1968 but have failed to reach a conclusion, that we will no longer continue simply for the sake of friendly exchanges”.

Meanwhile, Erhurman said at the pair’s joint press conference that “both the TRNC’s demonstrated will and Turkey’s unequivocal determination to seek a solution are clear”.

“Despite this, we face a problem which has remained unsolved for years. A solution to this problem can only be achieved through the shared will of this island’s two constituent peoples. The Turkish Cypriot people exist and will continue to exist,” he said.

Upon his return to the island on Thursday night, Erhurman said that he and Turkey are “largely on the same path” and that “intensive consultations” with Ankara will continue.

He added that he plans to meet President Nikos Christodoulides next week, saying that “we attach importance to the next enlarged meeting, but we would lie to see some results achieved in Nicosia first”.