President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides said on Tuesday that he will propose a joint meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader next week, expressing hope that there would be a positive response.
In statements to journalists upon his arrival at the opening ceremony of the new judicial year of the Supreme Constitutional Court, the President said that he is in contact with the UNSG’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin who will announce her date of arrival to Cyprus.
He said that he asked the Greek Cypriot negotiator to contact the Turkish Cypriot side to propose a joint meeting next week with the Turkish Cypriot leader.
Asked whether the date for Holguin’s visit has been determined, the President of the Republic said that he is in contact with Holguin but that she will be the one to announce the date herself.
“Let me tell you that today I will also ask the Turkish Cypriot leader to arrange a meeting for next week. I hope there will be a positive response to continue a discussion that began before we went to New York but also based on the data, the discussions we had with the UN Secretary General.”
We are here, he stressed, to make progress, adding that “there is political will, there are ideas that concern all three issues requested by the UN Secretary-General.”
“Ideas, which were positively accepted by the UN Secretary-General and we are here to continue. For this reason, I have already asked the negotiator to contact the Turkish Cypriot side to propose a joint meeting next week,” he continued.
Asked whether there is concern about the possibility of a Turkish UN Secretary General, the President said that “Turkey is doing its job, we are doing our job” and added that “there are many scenarios, many names that are not on the list that the UN Security Council is currently discussing.”
He added that Cyprus is in contact with its European partners as well as with other countries and is monitoring developments.
“There is nothing more to say at the moment. What matters at the moment is the work that is being done behind the scenes rather than public statements,” 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.