UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin has agreed to meet a delegation from the municipal council of occupied Famagusta, after a year of failed attempts by the council to see her. Government sources told Phileleftheros that the meeting is expected at the end of the week, most likely on Friday.
The UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy will also meet a delegation from the occupied municipality of Morphou, the same sources said, possibly also on Friday.
Holguin meets Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman today, before noon, after meeting President Nikos Christodoulides last Friday. A joint meeting of the three is scheduled for 9 November.
Famagusta mayor Simos Ioannou said last week, after a municipal delegation met Christodoulides, that the council had been trying to meet Holguin for a year without success. He said it would make a new, last-ditch attempt to see her during her stay on the island this week.
Possible Turkish Cypriot presence
Holguin’s agreement to meet the delegations of the occupied municipalities, a year on, is a positive development. But it carries a shadow: the possibility that Turkish Cypriot counterparts will also be present at the meetings.
Why the meeting matters
With or without Turkish Cypriots present, the Famagusta delegation’s meeting with Holguin puts the fenced-off area and Christodoulides’s proposal on the table. Whether or not Holguin wants to discuss it, she will hear and note what those directly affected have to say.
Christodoulides has presented his proposal for Famagusta as the best possible confidence-building measure for both communities. In brief, it provides for Varosha to be returned to its lawful inhabitants under UN administration, and for Famagusta port to operate under the supervision of the European Commission. The people most directly affected, the Varosha residents, view it positively.
Beyond the proposal, UN Security Council resolutions 550 and 789 call for the occupied town to be returned to its lawful inhabitants. These resolutions bind the UN Secretary-General and, by extension, Holguin, even if she overlooks them.
In his meetings with Holguin, in both New York and Nicosia, Christodoulides made a point of telling her that Famagusta could be the most substantive confidence-building measure. This carries particular weight now. Holguin is in Cyprus on what may be her last mission and is anxiously seeking a positive result to present to Antonio Guterres.
Monday meeting with Erhurman
Holguin wants to hear from Erhurman how his meetings with Christodoulides went and what was discussed. On Friday, Christodoulides gave her his own account of the talks at leader level.
Famagusta is not expected to be raised at Monday’s meeting, as Erhurman has already come out against the proposal. As is her habit, Holguin does not try to press him on issues the Turkish Cypriot side rejects.
Questions over timing
It is still unclear why Holguin left a full week between her separate meetings with the two leaders and the joint meeting.
Christodoulides told Holguin on Friday that he was willing for the three of them to meet sooner, without waiting for the scheduled date. Whether there will be an additional three-way meeting should become clear on Monday, when Holguin raises it with Erhurman in the occupied north.
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