An informal timeframe or target is for the expanded meeting on Cyprus to take place within the summer, President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides said on Friday after a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman in the buffer zone at Nicosia airport.
Speaking at the Presidential Palace after the meeting, President Christodoulides said the key issue was not when the meeting would take place, but achieving the objective of resuming negotiations.
‘It was a good meeting. The increased interest shown by the Secretary-General, following his meeting with the Turkish President in Turkey, creates a positive climate on substantive issues where we are focusing,’ the President said.
‘Of course this bothers some others and we see attempts to create problems for this positive prospect emerging from the Secretary-General’s initiative,’ he added.
Referring to the decision to establish a consultative body for civil society engagement, President Christodoulides said it was a proposal submitted by the Greek Cypriot side to Ersin Tatar.
He clarified that the proposal had originally been submitted in 2007 by then President Tassos Papadopoulos.
‘It was accepted and we are moving forward,’ he said.
On foot-and-mouth disease, the President said it was agreed to continue coordination.
‘In order for foot-and-mouth disease to be addressed, the necessary measures must be taken,’ he noted.
Referring to religious services, President Christodoulides said it was agreed that the dates and venues of religious ceremonies would be determined in advance every six months.
As he explained, the aim is to avoid obstacles created by some individuals.
‘This is being done so that we do not have these problems, the unacceptable incidents we saw in recent days,’ he added.
The President also said that within the framework of the Technical Committee on Economic and Commercial Matters, it was agreed to establish a subcommittee on Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) products.
According to President Christodoulides, the subcommittee will deal with products submitted by the Republic of Cyprus.
‘It is very important that what we submitted to the European Union applies across the entire territory of the Republic of Cyprus,’ he said.
Asked whether there was a positive approach from the Turkish side, the President replied: ‘We will wait.’
‘There is a positive approach in the discussion that took place, in the ongoing discussion that is constantly reinforced by the United Nations, and we hope it will lead to a positive outcome,’ he added.
Asked whether challenges in the buffer zone were discussed, President Christodoulides said he raised the issue during the meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader.
‘The challenges come from a very specific direction,’ he said, pointing to ‘the Turkish occupation army.’
He further said that, beyond the discussions and references made during the meeting, ‘our effort is focused towards the United Nations and the European Union’.
Asked whether Erhurman was abandoning the position that confidence-building measures (CBMs) should precede the resumption of negotiations, the President said he could not speak on behalf of the Turkish Cypriot leader.
‘I described to you what the United Nations has initiated, the direction in which it is working, immediately after the Secretary-General’s meeting with the Turkish President,’ President Christodoulides said.
Asked whether there was willingness to comply with protocols regarding foot-and-mouth disease, the President said the issue had been discussed extensively during the meeting.
He noted that this was why a relevant reference was included in the United Nations joint statement.
‘Certain specific actions also need to be taken by the Turkish Cypriot side so that we can address this challenge,’ the President said.
Asked about tensions in the buffer zone, President Christodoulides said ‘we are seeing an increasing trend of violations within the buffer zone’.
He added that ‘we suddenly see even religious services being questioned, although this was one of the few issues that had been functioning smoothly’, while also referring to problems concerning the Armenian community.
He further said that ‘officially or unofficially, an election campaign is underway in the occupied areas’, noting that this ‘undoubtedly affects certain decisions being taken’.
Asked whether the election campaign in the occupied areas could affect the target of holding a Cyprus meeting in broader format within the summer, the President replied in the affirmative.
‘Some obviously do not wish to see positive developments,’ he said, adding that ‘the convening of an informal, expanded meeting that would announce the resumption of talks is a positive development that some certainly do not want’.
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.