The Greek Cypriot side would like the meetings that will take place in an extended format, as announced by the UN Secretary-General, to take place as soon as possible, with appropriate preparation both domestically and by the UN, Cyprus’ Foreign Minister, Constantinos Kombos said on Wednesday.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the opening ceremony for the first Cyprus-US strategic dialogue at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Kombos noted that the Greek Cypriot side’s position on the issue of the these meetings and their form has been formulated with absolute clarity.
He reminded that on Tuesday, Cyprus President, Nikos Christodoulides addressed in a letter the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres thanking him on the one hand for the initiative as regards convening their dinner in New York with the participation of Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, and on the other hand asking him to convene the two meetings he has announced, as soon as possible.
‘Therefore, from our side
we ask that this is something that will take place as soon as possible, and, at the same time, with the proper preparation, both domestically and at the UN level, so that it can lead to some positive results’, Kombos said. He noted that there was no clarity yet as to when the meetings would take place.
Responding to another question about the format of the meetings, the Foreign Minister said that President Christodoulides submitted at the dinner in New York, with the Turkish Cypriot leader and the UNSG, a series of suggestions and proposals because he wanted to show that the Greek Cypriot side not only has the will it expresses publicly, but also puts this on the table.
‘The issue of separate tables is something that was submitted by the President of the Republic and not by the Secretary-General’, Kombos said, adding that the Secretary-General has accepted the usefulness of this approach, and that its evaluation was now up to him.
He clarified that this concerns the next step, when one arrives at the actua
l negotiation.
We had to show, he said, ‘that we are thinking not only about the dinner and the next step which will be the discussion about the crossing points, or the meeting that will take place in an extended format but also beyond these, the essence’.
‘So, this is an idea concerning the methodology, which was submitted by us, and it is a matter of evaluation by the Secretary-General. I hope we get to the point where such matters must be clarified’, he said, adding that, ‘we have already submitted a position in this regard, an approach to facilitate the Secretary-General in the task he undertook’ with the most active involvement on the issue on his behalf, especially after some years of not having this involvement, Kombos said.
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. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
Source:
Cyprus News Agency