UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas in the United Nations Department of Political Affairs, Miroslav Jenca, arrives on Wednesday to Cyprus, where he will hold separate meetings with Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, and Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar.
Anastasiades’ meeting with Jenca has been scheduled for Thursday at 1030 local time while on Wednesday afternoon the UN envoy will meet with the negotiator of the Greek Cypriot side, Menelaos Menelaou. He is also expected to meet with Tatar’s Special Representative, Ergün Olgun.
A well-informed source has told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that even though nothing concrete is expected to come up from Jenca’s meetings with sides, however this visit is important in the sense that it gives the message that the UNSG continues to be engaged with the Cyprus problem and sends a high-ranking UN official to discuss with the two sides.
It gives the message that the framework in which we must seek a breakthrough to get out of the current stalemate is the UN framework and this was the path followed until now with the aim to reach a Cyprus solution and this way is the UNSG’s good offices, the source added.
According to the same source, the main goal is for the discussion and the engagement with the parties to continue, in the framework of the UNSG’s effort to help create a conducive climate in order to be able to get through this very sensitive period and reach a point at which the resumption of the talks will be examined.
Moreover, in light of the Turkish occupation troops actions in the buffer zone, Nicosia is expected to raise during the meetings with Jenca the need for an objective presentation of the developments in the UNSG’s forthcoming reports on Cyprus. “We expect that the UN will try, through these reports, to will be to keep the prospects for the resumption of the negotiating process alive,” the source added.
As regards the Turkish Cypriot side’s demand for a separate Status of the Force Agreement (SOFA) with the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), it will be underlined that the UN clinch such an agreement about the peacekeeping forces’ status with the government of the hosting country and that Nicosia expects that this principle, which does not only concern UNFICYP but peacekeeping operations all over the world will not be violated, especially in light of the Turkish side’s objective to upgrade the Turkish Cypriot pseudo-state.
Director of President Anastasiades’ Press Office, Andreas Iosif, said in a written statement that during his meeting with Jenca, Anastasiades will “reiterate the Greek Cypriot side’s will and readiness for the resumption of the talks for a solution to the Cyprus problem within the agreed UN framework.”
“The continuation of the efforts aiming to resume the process for the solution of the Cyprus problem on the basis of bizonal bicommunal federation remains our firm position,” Iosif added.
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.
Source: Cyprus News Agency