President Nikos Christodoulides will have a new meeting on Wednesday morning with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman at the Good Offices premises in Nicosia airport in the buffer zone. The meeting is scheduled for 1030 am local time.
On Tuesday the President of the Republic, in an interview with daily Turkish Cypriot newspaper ”Yeni Dzen” expressed his belief that together with the Turkish Cypriot leader they can “write history”, noting at the same time that “as Greek Cypriots we do not have a Plan B” and that the only possible solution is the reunification of Cyprus. He further noted that the current status quo does not allow our country to fully realise its potential.
The UN in New York also announced on Tuesday that UNSG’s personal envoy Maria Angela Holguin, will brief the Secretary-General by phone about her work, as she canceled her planned visits to both New York and Cyprus, for health reasons.
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.