UN envoy updates Cyprus president on EU strategy

President Nikos Christodoulides will hear what the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General, María Angela Holguín Cuéllar, has to say about her contacts in the EU and elsewhere, the previous days and her thoughts on the next steps, Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbotis told the Cyprus News Agency, ahead of the envoy’s new visit on the island.

Holguin arrives on Tuesday evening, on her third mission, and will be received by the President tomorrow morning. Her meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar is set for the noon. She will have a second meeting with Cyprus President before she departs on May 14.

In the previous days, Guterres’ personal envoy had a series of contacts in Athens, London, Brussels, Paris, Berlin and Moscow. Yesterday she met in Ankara with the Turkish Foreign Minister.

The Government Spokesperson reiterated the importance of linking Turkey’s course to the EU and Ankara's relations with Brussels with the progress in the Cyprus issue and the positive message sent by Nicosia and the EU on the matter.

Asked to comment on the Turkish leader's new statements that federation as a solution is not an option, the Spokesperson reiterated that the Greek Cypriot side remains committed to the agreed solution framework and that commitment is unwavering.

He said that our side does not expect that it is through public statements that progress can be made, but through taking initiatives such as, for example, the measures adopted by the Government for the Turkish Cypriots last January or EU-Turkish relations.

Replying to a question about a meeting for the National Council, Letymbiotis said that the Body will be convened when there is a development, as it was the case in all previous meetings.

He also said that in view of the visit of Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis to Turkey, the necessary coordination will be done, in the context of the continuous contact between Athens and Nicosia, in the effort to resume the peace talks.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.

Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.