The UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus, María Angela Holguín, said on Friday she is optimistic about the possibility of a 5+1 meeting on the Cyprus issue before the end of the year, provided there is progress on the confidence building measures, in methodology and in substance.
In statements to journalists after her meeting with the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, at the Presidential Palace, Holguín said they had a good meeting and that she will have another meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhrman, on Monday.
‘You know we are pushing and we continue pushing. What the Secretary General asked me is that until the last minute of his mandate he wants to see if we can move forward on the Cyprus issue,’ she noted.
She added that she wanted to listen from President Christodoulides about his meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader. ‘I think it has been very good that they have this kind of meetings together and I am still with hope to see if we can see something. We are going to have the trilateral meeting on the 9th of November. I am here, I am optimistic and I hope we can get something next week,’ she stressed.
Asked if she is also optimistic about a 5+1 meeting before the end of the year, she replied in the affirmative. ‘I am optimistic, if there are some advances in the CBMs, in methodology and in some substance, and if we can get this we are going to have the 5+1,’ she further noted.
Asked if she is interested in the position of the UN Secretary General, Holguin said she was not.
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.