A new meeting between the leaders of Cyprus’ two communities is scheduled to take place on Tuesday morning, with President Nikos Christodoulides describing the atmosphere ahead of Tuesday’s meeting as ‘absolutely fine’.
The meeting has been scheduled for 11 am at the UN Good Offices Mission offices at Nicosia Airport, in the buffer zone.
In a post on Monday, Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis wrote that the aim remains to achieve meaningful progress towards the resumption of negotiations from the point at which they were suspended, within the agreed framework.
‘We approach the meeting with the same constructive attitude, consistency and specific proposals, convinced that meaningful dialogue can create the conditions for the next steps,’ he added.
Meanwhile, following the inauguration ceremony of the renovated Nicosia Accident and Emergency Department (A and E), the President declined to make any statements on the matter. Asked by a journalist about the atmosphere ahead of tomorrow’s meeting, he replied: ‘The atmosphere is absolutely fine.’
The last meeting between President Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman took place last Tuesday, 13 October, while both leaders also attended the Peace Festival in Pyla on Saturday.
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 due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose term nears its end, announced he would convene another meeting in broader format, after adequate preparation, but gave no timeline. He secured to that end the consensus of both sides and of the guarantor powers. María Angela Holguín, Guterres’ Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties. Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto acts as the European Commission’s Special Representative for Cyprus, succeeding EU special envoy Johannes Hahn.