The President of the Republic is prepared to do whatever may help lead to the resumption of negotiations and the resolution of the Cyprus issue, Director of the President’s Press Office, Victoras Papadopoulos, said on Monday following the meeting of the National Council at the Presidential Palace.
Speaking to journalists, Papadopoulos said that the President had given members of the National Council “a comprehensive briefing” on his meetings with the UN Secretary-General, including both their bilateral meeting and the meetings held in the presence of the Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhürman.
According to Papadopoulos, the President also briefed the Council on the visit to Cyprus by the European Union’s Special Envoy for Cyprus and Vice-President of the European Commission, Raffaele Fitto, which took place right after the UN Secretary-General’s visit. He also exchanged views with Council members on the next steps, “which effectively began the day after the Secretary-General’s visit to Cyprus, with the aim of leading to the expanded meeting announced by the UN Secretary-General, for which he has already received the green light from all parties involved, as he himself has stated”.
Papadopoulos said it was particularly encouraging that, following the suspension of negotiations in 2017, the UN Secretary-General had “so clearly and unequivocally reiterated” in his remarks to journalists that his efforts are being conducted within the framework of the United Nations, on the basis of the agreed convergences and the acquis of previous negotiations. He also noted that the Secretary-General had called on the parties to “go the last mile”, indicating that negotiations should continue from the point at which they were interrupted in the summer of 2017.
Papadopoulos added that the President had informed the National Council that he would remain available to the United Nations throughout August. “From the day after the meeting with the Secretary-General, we have been working with the UN Secretariat and the Secretary-General’s representatives towards that objective”, he said.
The President, he said, also outlined to Council members the actions he intends to take in the immediate future to help ensure the success of the Secretary-General’s efforts to convene an expanded meeting as soon as possible.
Asked whether it was realistic to expect the United Nations to complete the process of recording the agreed convergences before the UN General Assembly, Papadopoulos said that the UN has a clear plan.
“The Secretary-General has a specific plan, and the fact that he is proceeding with it means he considers the available timeframe realistic, both for convening an expanded conference and for restarting negotiations with prospects for success, as he himself has stressed”, he said.
Asked whether the preparatory phase is focusing on confidence-building measures (CBMs), documenting the convergences, or arranging another meeting between President Christodoulides and Erhürman, Papadopoulos said that the Secretary-General’s objective, as he has publicly stated, is for the expanded meeting to produce a concrete outcome. “That outcome is nothing other than the resumption of negotiations”, he said. “His aim is to reach a point where, by the time the expanded meeting takes place, we can achieve results. As he said during his press conference in New York, when we return to negotiations, there must be a tangible outcome”, he added, noting that the outcome Guterres has set as his objective is the resumption of negotiations. “Therefore, all preparatory efforts are focused exclusively on achieving that goal,” he added.
Papadopoulos noted that confidence-building measures can help create a positive climate, although they are not a prerequisite. “The President of the Republic attaches great importance to this aspect as well, which is why he has specific proposals to put forward in that regard”, he said.
Asked whether Turkey had given a positive response on issues beyond agreeing to the convening of the expanded conference, Papadopoulos noted that “the Secretary-General has said he has secured the green light from all parties to convene a conference aimed at resuming negotiations. He has also said that, for the conference to succeed, preparatory work will be carried out, and he himself will decide when that preparation has reached the point where a successful outcome can be expected”.
In response to another question, the Director of the President’s Press Office said, “no one underestimates the difficulties, including the UN Secretary-General”. “The fact that negotiations have not resumed demonstrates that there are obstacles. However, those obstacles are not of our making. Our side has the political will; we would have been ready to return to negotiations even yesterday”, he added.
Asked about a social media post by Erhürman proposing weekly meetings with the President of the Republic, and whether the President would be willing to accept such a proposal, Papadopoulos said, “anything that could help us achieve the objective of resuming negotiations and resolving the Cyprus issue is something the President of the Republic is prepared to do.”
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.