UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to call a trilateral meeting with the leaders of the two communities in the coming weeks. The expectation follows their talks on Monday, at which they agreed to open two new crossing points, Lympia-Louroujina and Kampos-Karavostasi.
The outcome of Monday’s meeting with UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin was judged good enough to persuade Guterres to call the trilateral, bringing the Cyprus problem a step closer to a broader 5+1 meeting before the end of the year. The next steps were agreed by Holguin in direct contact with Guterres and with Rosemary DiCarlo, described in the source as UN deputy secretary-general.
In a statement after the four-hour meeting in the UN protected area in Nicosia, the UN described the talks between President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman as positive. It said the two crossings would open at the same time. No date was given, as talks between the negotiators will now begin to decide the next steps.
Why two crossings, not four
Reports last week had pointed to agreement on four crossings, including Mia Milia and Athienou-Pyroi-Aglantzia. The Turkish news agency ANKA reported that the opening of four crossings and demining were on the table. Asked about this after Monday’s meeting, Christodoulides said the reports did not reflect reality. ANKA’s information may have come from Holguin, who also gave the agency an interview.
The failure to agree on the other two crossings is not seen as unrelated to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s visit to the occupied north. Christodoulides did not directly link the visit to Monday’s outcome, but said the results could have been clearly better and more substantial.
The discussion will continue, however. Christodoulides said there had been progress but no final outcome. The opening of Mia Milia and Athienou appears likely to be on the agenda of the trilateral with Guterres, where any announcements would be made.
Nicosia sees the agreement on the Lympia-Louroujina crossing as a positive step. The area is suspected of illegal trafficking and illegal trade, and even of the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, and the road is short.
On demining, Christodoulides said it had not been discussed. He said the Greek Cypriot side had long proposed, after consulting the National Guard, examining areas of about 70,000 square metres that might contain explosives or mines, but there had never been a discussion on demining.
The 19 points in writing
Christodoulides went to the meeting with his 19-point proposal ready to submit in writing to Holguin and Erhurman. The aim was to end the recent debate over the proposal, so that neither Erhurman nor Holguin could say his proposals had been oral rather than written.
Asked whether discussion of the 19 points would continue, he said it would. Asked whether they would be made public, he said the dialogue would go on and the public would be informed accordingly.
According to government sources, what was agreed and announced on Monday is included in the list of 19 proposals. The sources did not rule out publishing the list, but said it would depend on how discussions between the two sides progressed.
Erhurman keeps his proposal under wraps
Returning to the occupied north, Erhurman declined to say exactly what he had proposed at the meeting. He said he wanted to give Christodoulides time to consider it, and that he would also present it to Guterres at the trilateral.
Speaking to reporters for about an hour in the afternoon, Erhurman said his proposal was much more balanced and acceptable than Christodoulides’s proposal on Varosha and the port of Famagusta, and that it had been drawn up in consultation with Turkey. He said he did not want it to be killed off by initial reactions, as he considered it very substantial. “I believe it is something that could be described as a ‘game changer’,” he said.
Christodoulides also said little about the content of Erhurman’s proposal. Asked about it after the meeting, he said only: “We knew about them, except for one new proposal which could not be accepted.”
Other agreements
According to the UN statement, the leaders agreed to proceed with the exchange of archive material through the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage, and with environmental projects to be carried out by the Technical Committee on the Environment. The Imagine programme will resume under the Technical Committee on Education and on its terms.
The leaders will instruct the Technical Committee on Crisis Management to set up a rapid response mechanism for emergencies. The Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage will also restore certain Maronite churches and an Armenian monastery.
The statement said the leaders also discussed opening other crossings and other outstanding issues, and that discussion of these, of methodology and of substance would continue, including at a trilateral meeting with the Secretary-General in the coming weeks.
Possible meeting in Antalya
Christodoulides leaves on Tuesday afternoon for Antalya in Turkey to attend the COP31 climate conference, where Guterres will also be present. Asked on Monday whether they would meet, he said nothing was scheduled but did not rule out a conversation on the sidelines.
Erhurman will also be in Antalya from Tuesday, at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
