President Nikos Christodoulides was welcomed to the United Nations’ Cop31 climate summit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, but not by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the host country’s leader leaving the stage ahead of Christodoulides’ arrival.

The majority of the other world leaders to the summit, which is taking place in the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya, were welcomed by both Guterres and Erdogan, and Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis described Erdogan’s departure from the stage as “an exhibition of contempt for the UN”.

Earlier, Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman had been welcomed to the summit by Erdogan, but not Guterres, while Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, ‘deputy prime minister’ Fikri Ataoglu, and ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu all touched down in Antalya on Wednesday morning to attend the summit.

More to follow…