We will continue to take initiatives to contribute in a positive manner to the creation of conditions for the resumption of talks, Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Tuesday during a press briefing at the Presidential Palace.
Asked if there will be any contact between Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the President of the Republic regarding the meeting between Mitsotakis and the personal envoy of the UN Secretary General for the Cyprus issue, the Spokesperson said that the communication and coordination with the Greek Government is ongoing adding that the Greek Prime Minister and Foreign Minister have been informed about the Cypriot President’s contacts with the UNSG’s envoy and that a communication will follow after the completion of the contacts in Athens. He added that President Christodoulides and the Greek Prime Minister had a communication yesterday.
Invited to comment on press reports that next time Holguin is in Cyprus she will have meetings with party leaders a
nd with anti-federalists, he said that the envoy’s intention, “as it has been conveyed to us, is that she wants, in addition to the President of the Republic and Mr. Tatar (Turkish Cypriot leader), in addition to the political leadership of the country and the party leadership with whom she may hold meetings in the next period, to have meetings, as he did, with civil society.”
I don’t think that this, he said, will be divided into federalists and anti-federalists, adding that what Holguin wants to see is the general sentiment of civil society in relation to the conditions for resuming negotiations from where they have been interrupted. He also said that she decides what contacts she will have.
Replying to a remark that the British High Commissioner said that the Turkish Cypriots want incentives to return to the talks, the Spokesperson said that we are in a process where a personal envoy of the UN Secretary General has been appointed precisely to explore the conditions for the resumption of negotiations.
“I
t is through our own persistent efforts, that this appointment has been achieved, something which just a few months ago did not seem possible,” he said.
He added that “in the same direction, we will continue to take initiatives, so as to contribute positively to the creation of conditions” and recalled that the President of the Republic announced a few days ago a package of 14 measures for Turkish Cypriots.
Asked what kind of assurances the Turkish Cypriot side needs to proceed to the talks as the High Commissioner said, Letymbiotis referred journalists to the High Commissioner himself, adding that “what we should all keep in mind is that especially in this period of mobility marked by an important development, the appointment of an envoy, we should all be very careful when expressing opinions in public.”
Replying to a question, he recalled that the President has convened the National Council already five times since he assumed office 11 months ago, adding that he will convene it again once there are devel
opments.
Asked whether there is anything new in relation to the extradition of the Turkish Cypriot lawyer who was arrested in Italy, he said that in the next few days Cypriot Police investigators will go to Rome, where in collaboration with the Italian authorities they will bring the Turkish Cypriot lawyer to Cyprus and then, in coordination with the Law Office of the Republic decisions on the next steps will be taken.
He added that the Republic of Cyprus is working on legal arrangements to deal with the phenomenon of usurpation of Greek Cypriot properties in the Turkish occupied territories. He also said that the government is taking action and legal measures will be taken which may not be announced.
Asked about the course of the investigations into the Cyprus Confidential case, he recalled that a group of foreign experts who had come to Cyprus for this reason, to help complete the investigations that were already before the authorities is in constant communication with the competent authorities in Cyprus
, adding that any information that may come to the attention of the authorities is immediately forwarded according to the procedures.
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. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Columbia 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