The UN has completed the convergences document that will form the basis for resuming negotiations on the Cyprus problem, President Nikos Christodoulides said ahead of his meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Tuesday.
Christodoulides, who on Saturday left open the possibility of concessions to move the effort forward, goes into Tuesday’s meeting aiming for progress. The government says Turkey’s role and its continued demand for a two-state solution remain a major obstacle.
Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis told CyBC on Monday morning that progress at the two leaders’ meetings was not enough on its own. For Tuesday’s meeting, the Greek Cypriot side wants “a substantive discussion on the 19 proposals” submitted by the President, which it believes could unlock the process and lead to progress, he said. That was why Christodoulides had wanted the two leaders to meet the UN Secretary-General in New York, he added.
Christodoulides spoke about the document at the Presidential Palace, where he briefed the mayor and members of the Morphou municipal council, along with foreign guests who took part in the municipality’s anti-occupation event. He described its completion as a positive development and said it should be submitted to all sides so that, once they had commented on it, it could serve as the basis for resuming negotiations.
A major effort was under way to restart negotiations, he said. That goal had not yet been reached, but comparing the situation when he took office in March 2023 with today, he said he was justified in believing there was a window of opportunity. The one specific development he was working towards was “the resumption of talks from where they broke off in 2017”, he added.
Tuesday’s meeting was held at the Greek Cypriot side’s initiative to discuss in more concrete terms how to achieve that, Christodoulides told the delegation. Some elements were heading in the right direction and could form the basis for resuming negotiations, he said.
The meeting comes amid speculation over the presidential elections linked to developments within DISY. The Presidential Palace says work on the Cyprus problem is not affected by party politics and that the President’s decisions and actions are not linked to them. Not all parties see it that way.
DISY views Christodoulides’s decision to add Nikos Tornaritis to the negotiating team with suspicion, linking the choice to wider discussions about the presidential elections.
DISY leader Annita Demetriou expressed disappointment on Monday at the lack of progress on the Cyprus problem. A House statement on her meeting with a group of foreign officials in Cyprus for the Morphou municipality’s events made no mention of Turkey’s responsibility for the lack of progress.
