Limassol: President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides has stated that the UN Secretary General demonstrated his political will by convening the trilateral meeting that took place last week in New York. UNSG met with President Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar in New York City, with a new meeting likely scheduled for November. Meanwhile, his personal envoy Maria Angela Holguin is expected to visit Cyprus in the coming weeks to prepare for the new meeting.
According to Cyprus News Agency, President Christodoulides, speaking to the media in Limassol before attending a European Investment Bank meeting, emphasized that considering the developments and the upcoming voting process for a new leader of the Turkish Cypriot community in the Turkish-occupied territories of Cyprus, the New York meeting could not have resulted in an outcome. However, he highlighted the importance of the UN Secretary General’s decision to proceed with organizing the meeting, underscoring his political will, as mentioned in his introductory comments.
President Christodoulides also mentioned the anticipated visit of the UNSG’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin, as communicated by the UN Secretary General. He noted that they had requested her visit to the guarantor powers-Greece, Turkey, and the UK-as well as to Brussels, to prepare for an informal meeting in a broader format before the end of the year. The sole objective of this meeting would be to address the essence of the Cyprus problem, specifically the resumption of talks.
In response to Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar’s statements that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres did not mention resuming Cyprus talks from where they were interrupted in Crans-Montana in 2017, President Christodoulides expressed surprise. He stated, “I heard the statements of Mr. Tatar and all those on the Greek Cypriot side who consciously choose to believe Mr. Tatar and not the President of the Republic of Cyprus.” He added that there were six people present at the meeting, including himself, accompanied by the Negotiator and the Permanent Representative.
When asked about the absence of specific details in the UN Secretary General’s press release, President Christodoulides reiterated that the meeting was attended by others and expressed his astonishment not at Mr. Tatar’s remarks but at those on the Greek Cypriot side who chose to believe him over the President of the Republic of Cyprus. The President emphasized that Cyprus has been divided since 1974 due to Turkey’s invasion and occupation of its northern third, and numerous UN-led peace talks have yet to produce results, with the last negotiations in July 2017 at Crans-Montana ending inconclusively.