The more active and proactive involvement of the EU can contribute to breaking the deadlock in negotiations for a Cyprus settlement, President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, said on Saturday, in his remarks at the margins of the Conference of the Union of Cyprus Communities, in Limassol. He also referred to the next milestones for the Cyprus problem, the next EU Summit and the NATO Summit, adding that he would also seek a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar in New York, where he will attend the UN General Assembly.
Asked about his recent conversation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and what the government now expects, the President said he keeps Guterres’ intention to work towards the resumption of talks, adding that there will be visits to Cyprus in this context.
He also said that at a second level there is the European Council meeting scheduled for the end of June and the NATO meeting, which the Turkish President will attend for the first time since his re-election, adding that efforts are being made at the diplomatic and especially at the technical level in order to assess the prospects for resuming talks from the point where they left off in Crans-Montana.
“We are well aware of the facts and the difficulties. It is very important from our side to have the initiative on the one hand, and on the other hand to achieve results”, President Christodoulides underlined, adding that the resumption of talks and the resolution of the Cyprus problem is a top priority for the Government and everything possible will be done to achieve this goal.
Asked about what is expected from the EU Summit at the end of the month and whether the Cyprus problem and the issue of the appointment of an EU envoy will be raised again, the President of the Republic said that there are several important milestones and added that he will refer to the Government’s readiness on the sidelines and during the official part of the European Council, expressing at the same time his satisfaction that “EU leaders see the added value, embrace this approach and in this context they are working on the issue.’
Asked about the appointment of an envoy for the Cyprus problem by the UN Secretary-General, President Christodoulides said that this effort is facing the refusal of the Turkish side.
“We are not resting on the denial of the Turkish side, nor do I want to engage in a blame game. What I am interested in is to create conditions through our own initiatives for the resumption of talks,” he said, adding that the appointment of an envoy was one of the issues discussed with Guterres, who, he said, is working towards the resumption of talks.
On the appointment of an EU envoy, the President said that there are EU conclusions that explicitly record that the EU is ready to contribute to the resumption of talks, as it did during the last negotiation process.
“But we are not yet in talks. Right now, the key issue is to break the deadlock and we believe that a more active, more proactive EU involvement can create momentum in this direction”, President Christodoulides said and referred to Tayyip Erdogan’s statements on what he expects from Euro-Turkish relations, as well as to statements by other European officials, which the Government is trying to use on its own initiative to create the conditions for the resumption of talks.
He also said that he was also aware of Ersin Tatar’s positions, adding that it would be easy to hide behind the unacceptable statements made and do nothing, but instead, because there is awareness of the need to resolve the Cyprus problem, the Government is doing everything possible until it achieves its goal.
Among the upcoming milestones, the President of the Republic included the UN General Assembly. He noted that the two leaders have been meeting with the UN Secretary General for the last few years and added that he will seek a meeting with Tatar in New York, as he will continue to seek a meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader in Cyprus.
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