UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo continues her regional tour with visits to Athens and Ankara this week, preparing for an informal expanded meeting on Cyprus scheduled for March 17-18 in Geneva.
The two sides approach the Geneva meeting with contrasting objectives. President Christodoulides seeks to use the two-day meeting as a springboard for substantive negotiations, while Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar aims for recognition through what sources describe as a form of deadlock.
“We approach this multilateral meeting as an opportunity to restart negotiations from where they left off, always within the agreed framework,” Government Spokesman Letymbiotis said after DiCarlo’s meeting at the Presidential Palace, which lasted over an hour.
DiCarlo, who described her meeting with Christodoulides as “very constructive,” said she assured the president of “the Secretary-General’s strong commitment to work with the parties on this issue to move forward.”
The Cypriot president expressed readiness to travel to New York for a meeting with the UN Secretary-General if needed to better prepare for the informal five-party talks.
In New York, UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said DiCarlo met separately with both leaders to discuss the way forward on the Cyprus issue. He added that during her stay in Cyprus, DiCarlo also met with women’s groups, emphasising that women’s participation in peace efforts is “not just about justice and equality, but smart peacemaking.”
According to sources, Nicosia conveyed to DiCarlo that Geneva could function similarly to the New York dinner in October, when next steps were agreed upon with the informal five-party meeting as a milestone.
Read more:
