President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman will hold a new meeting today. The meeting is scheduled for 11.00 am (local time) at the UN-protected areas of the now defunct Nicosia airport.
According to a UN press release following the leaders’ meeting last week, “they agreed to meet next week to continue their discussions”, adding that ‘the two leaders look forward to the upcoming visit of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General on Cyprus, María Ángela Holguín’.
It was also said that they agreed to jointly attend upcoming meetings of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage, the Technical Committee on Youth and the Steering Committee of the Civil Society Consultative Body.
Meanwhile, President Nikos Christodoulides said that he is going to the meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader with a sole objective for positive developments. He also pointed out that a tripartite meeting is taking place between him, the Turkish Cypriot leader and UNSG’s personal envoy Maria Angela Holguin in October.
The President said that discussions are underway and that potential dates have already been proposed for the arrival of Holguín and for a joint meeting with the two leaders. He added that the Greek Cypriot side gave a positive response and assumes that the same goes for the Turkish Cypriot side.
“I truly hope that tomorrow [today] we will have positive news to announce”, he said. When asked about the exact date of Holguin’s arrival he said that the UN will officially announce the date but added that the personal envoy is arriving sometime in October.
Replying to another question whether an announcement regarding the opening of a new crossing point would be made, he replied, “I certainly hope so”.
The President noted that we are ready, should there be a positive response, to proceed with such an announcement, as well as to address various other issues raised by the Secretary-General namely substance, methodology and confidence-building measures.
Asked about the other side’s reaction he replied that he did not wish to speak on their behalf, adding that Erhrman (the Turkish Cypriot leader) has spoken publicly and expressed his views.
”I have already commented on his interview; let us wait and see what happens tomorrow, and we will be here after the meeting to discuss it further,” he concluded.
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.