President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhurman, will be holding their last meeting next Thursday, before the UN General Assembly in New York. The meeting, within the framework of the two leaders’ regular contacts and the continuation of the substantive discussion, is set for 11:00 a.m local time.
Meanwhile, Greek Cypriot negotiator Menelaos Menelaou and Turkish Cypriot negotiator Mehmet Dana will meet ahead of the leader’s meeting, on Monday afternoon, CNA has learned.
So far there has been no update as regard a phone conversation the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, was set to have with his Personal Envoy on Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin. Holguin postponed a visit she was going to pay to the island in the previous days as well as a trip to New York for health reasons.
On September 18, the High-level Week of the 81st General Assembly begins at the UN headquarters. The central event, namely the General Debate, during which heads of state and government from around the world will address the UNGA, will begin on Tuesday, September 22.
Following the last meeting of the leaders on September 9, President Christodoulides told the press that there might be a joint meeting between him and the Turkish Cypriot leader in New York, with the UN Secretary-General or with his personal envoy. But so far, as CNA has learned, there is no update on any of the meetings.
In the previous meeting between the leaders, the discussion continued on the three issues, methodology, substance and Confidence Building Measures, and as the President said, on some issues there is progress, in the sense that there is a common understanding, but on others differences remain.
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.