UN envoy María Ángela Holguín is expected in Cyprus on Thursday. Her return follows an agreement between President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman to make no further public statements on the issues they are discussing until talks continue in her presence.
Holguín, the UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy, will hold her first meeting with Christodoulides on Friday and meet Erhurman early next week. Erhurman will be in Ankara, where Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited him to the summit of the Organisation of Turkic States.
The three are due to meet jointly on 9 November, the only joint meeting scheduled so far. Government sources told Phileleftheros that Christodoulides is ready for a three-way meeting before then if the opportunity arises.
Holguín’s previous visits to the island have centred on confidence-building measures and contacts with civil society, with no progress on the core aim of resuming negotiations. This trip is expected to follow the same pattern, with most of her stay taken up by other contacts rather than talks with the two leaders.
Her meetings will show whether anything positive can emerge from the issues the two leaders are discussing. No movement is expected on resuming talks, however. Holguín’s public statements have indicated she is not looking in that direction, and she does not appear intent on pressing for the new multilateral conference on Cyprus sought by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
No joint statement
Speaking after his latest meeting with Erhurman, Christodoulides described it as “a good and constructive discussion”. He said it would continue while Holguín is in Cyprus.
He said the two leaders had agreed not to make further statements on specific issues and not to issue a joint communiqué. Asked whether the absence of a communiqué reflected a deadlock, he repeated that it was a mutual agreement and asked reporters not to question him on any issue.
The leaders also held joint meetings with the technical committees on youth and cultural heritage, followed by the Civil Society Advisory Body. Christodoulides said views and suggestions raised there would be discussed in his meetings with Erhurman.
Before the meeting, Christodoulides said his side was demonstrating in practice its will for positive developments on the Cyprus problem. He welcomed the acceptance of one of the 19 proposals he had submitted, under which the joint meetings with the technical committees and the advisory body took place.
He noted that setting up the Civil Society Advisory Body had been a Greek Cypriot proposal. He added that the technical committee on youth was first suggested by DiCarlo during her visit to Cyprus in 2023. The Greek Cypriot side accepted it immediately, while the Turkish side accepted it two years later, he said.
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