President Nikos Christodoulides has reiterated his willingness to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, as UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo prepares for separate meetings with both leaders on Monday.
Despite Tatar’s announcement earlier this month suggesting potential meeting dates for February 7 or 8, no further progress has been made towards arranging the encounter. This follows a pattern from their previous meeting, which was also first announced by Tatar.
UN Special Representative Colin Stewart’s efforts last Friday failed to secure a meeting between the two leaders. The Turkish Cypriot side also did not respond to proposals for a meeting between negotiators yesterday.
Attention now turns to DiCarlo’s Monday visit, which aims to pave the way for an informal five-party conference in Switzerland this March.
Speaking on Thursday evening, Christodoulides expressed readiness for a meeting with Tatar, including a potential joint session with DiCarlo present. The president confirmed DiCarlo’s February 10 visit, noting that official announcements would come from the United Nations.
“If there is a desire for a joint meeting, I am ready for it to take place”, Christodoulides said, adding that he awaits Tatar’s response to specific proposals discussed during their first meeting regarding crossing points, including Pyla and other options.
The Turkish Cypriot side has previously indicated it would only discuss opening the Mia Milia crossing point, while also raising the issue of Louroujina in response to community pressure.
Christodoulides suggested the lack of progress on crossing points discussions may be behind the failure to arrange a second meeting, stating “if there had been progress, I believe the meeting would have taken place”.
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