Nicosia: We will continue to work so that there are positive developments towards the resumption of the Cyprus talks, on the basis of the agreed framework, President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides has stressed. The President, who was replying on Monday to journalists’ questions before the inauguration of the Cyprus Branch of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Nicosia, also said that our side is ready any time for the resumption of the talks.
According to Cyprus News Agency, in response to a journalist’s remark that the next stage in the Cyprus issue seems to be postponed to 2026 – when the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council will be held – since the meeting between the Turkish Cypriot leader and the UNSG’s Personal Envoy will take place in early December – the President said that the one issue does not affect the other. It would be good, he continued, if the UNSG’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus Holgun came to Cyprus as she had planned in early November, but this was not possible for reasons that are well known.
“The one issue does not affect the other. Of course, we will continue to work so that we have positive developments towards the resumption of talks always on the basis of the agreed framework,” he stressed. Asked why the Turkish President is delaying the matter, he said “I cannot know what Erdogan is doing, what I know is what we are doing. As I have repeatedly stated and have shown in practice, we are ready at any time.”
“The reason why there is this delay – in quotes, without quotes- is not something that is caused by our side,” he stressed. Asked if there is a date for his meeting with the new Turkish Cypriot leader and why it will take place without the presence of the UN, the President recalled that when he spoke with Erhurman, he had expressed his readiness to meet “even the next day.”
“He told me to give him some time, next week, the week after that, he will contact me to tell me when he is ready to meet. I told him I want to discuss, for the two of us to meet. The discussion is always within the framework of the UN,” he said. Besides, he added, it is the UN that will help make the meeting happen.
He recalled that when he was first elected and requested a meeting with the then Turkish Cypriot leader, it was the UN that assisted in making the meeting possible at the UNSG Special Representative’s residence. Invited to comment on Turkish President’s statements that Cyprus will be added to the new imperialist game being set up in the region and that the solution to the Cyprus problem is the two ‘states’, the President initially said that he has not read Erdogan’s statements, but commented that “the only one behaving imperialistically in the region by trying to implement a neo-Ottoman approach is Turkey.”
He should ask all neighboring states what their view is in relation to Turkey’s policy in the region, 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.
In 2025 the Secretary-General hosted two informal meetings on Cyprus, in March in Geneva and in July in New York, while a tripartite meeting with the Cyprus leaders was also held in late September, at the end of the UN General Assembly High Level Week. An informal meeting in broader format is expected later this year.
Mara Angela Holgun, the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties, while former European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, designated by the Commission as Special Envoy for Cyprus, is also expected to contribute to the settlement process, in cooperation with Holgun.