President, Nikos Christodoulides, has said that the discussion on the EU – Turkey relations will take place in April, expressing hope that there will be developments in relation to the Cyprus issue that will also help the strategic dialogue that will take place at the EU – 27 level.
In an interview with Euronews, on the sidelines of the EU Summit in Brussels, published on Friday evening, President Christodoulides said that during the meeting he had with the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres informed him “of his plans for the next few days together with his personal envoy, so that that there are some positive developments” adding that the UN SG has some ideas to help restart the negotiations.
Regarding the Cypriot initiative “Amalthea” that was recently implemented for humanitarian aid to Gaza through the port of Larnaka, he expressed satisfaction for the fact that it received the support of the 27 EU leaders as well as the UN SG during the Brussels European Council, and said that it is important that
the Republic of Cyprus’ role is being recognised. He stressed that there is an important factor that characterizes the operation and explained that “it is the first time in 17 years that the naval blockade of Gaza is lifted by Israel, only for ships leaving from Cyprus.”
“Our goal now is to strengthen it even more, because there is a humanitarian crisis” he pointed out and stressed the need to create the circumstances for restarting the political process to resolve the Middle East problem.
Replying to the journalist’s remark that “Amalthea” can play a role the day after the war, the President said “precisely; It can play a role in the reconstruction of, for example, Gaza, because it is a model, an example that can be applied in many crises in the region.”
The President said that there are other important issues as well and recalled that he was in Cairo with the President of the Commission, together with four other leaders of EU member states.
‘We are now working with the Commission to present something si
milar in relation to Lebanon, to go to Lebanon together. There is an immigration issue there, let’s see how we can deal with it. How can the European Union, as it did in the case of Egypt, deal with it in the case of Lebanon,” he said.
He added that he also discussed the matter with French President Emmanuel Macron who expressed readiness to be part of the visit to Lebanon.
Replying to questions, he said that discussions on EU-Turkey relations will be discussed at the April European Council.
He referred to his meeting with the German Chancellor and said that the interest shown by Germany is not only in the EU-Turkey issue, but also in the Cyprus issue.
EU – Turkey relations, he added, will be discussed in April so that a strategic discussion can take place on the future of those relations, not simply to adopt some conclusions, “and by April we will see some developments. We hope to see developments in relation to the Cyprus issue that will help the dialogue that will take place, the strategic dialogue tha
t will take place at the level of the 27 as well as the conclusions.”
He also referred to his meeting with the UN Secretary General, noting that Guterres informed him about his plans so that, “we will see some positive developments. He has some ideas.”
President Christodoulides added that during the meeting he expressed his support and his readiness to respond to what the UN SG has in mind.
Invited to elaborate on what they discussed he said that they exchanged some views “some ideas that he himself had in mind to help the whole process to help resume the negotiations.”
Asked if the Turkish President’s recent statements about Cyprus are in line with the positive message that Germany and other countries initially wanted to send, he said “no they are not” adding that nobody saw a positive sign in Erdogan’s statements.
“The German Chancellor was aware of Erdogan’s statements and the French President as well, who was also involved in the discussion we had with the Germans, both on the EU-Turkey issues and on
the Cyprus issue” he pointed out.
Asked about the idea of a special EU envoy for the Cyprus issue, he said that it was discussed in detail with the German Chancellor as well and expressed satisfaction that “it is not ruled out by the European Union”.
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.
In January, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.
Source: Cyprus News Agency