The discussion between the Foreign Ministers of the EU and their Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, focused on facing common challenges, with the Cyprus problem being “the most important issue that affects our relationship”, High Commissioner Josep Borrell said on Friday, upon arrival to an informal summit for Defense Ministers in Brussels.

While arriving at the building of the Council of the EU, Borrell was asked by a journalist to comment on the discussion held on EU – Turkey relations during Thursday’s informal meeting, particularly about human rights, freedom and democracy given that there are still political prisoners, mainly Kurds, in the country.

“We discussed about everything that matters to our bilateral relations and for the geopolitical environment”, Borrell said.

“We discussed mainly about how we can face the challenges that affect both of us, and in particular the stability in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the most important issue that affects our relationship which is the Cyprus issue” he underlined, adding that “we didn’t go inside internal issues of Turkey.”

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.