The preparatory work with the UN to create the conditions for a successful expanded conference has been underway since yesterday, the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides said Saturday evening upon arrival at an event organized by Famagusta Municipality to commemorate the city’s fall to the Turkish army in August 1974.
The preparatory work being carried out together with the United Nations on a technocratic level will go on throughout August, he added.
Asked what steps need to be taken to hold the informal five-party conference, the President said, “yesterday, I had an excellent meeting with Mr. Fitto, with whom I spoke again in the evening regarding everything that had been discussed. Since yesterday, we started at a technical level with the UN, and I imagine they have also started with all parties the preparatory work,” he noted.
“Already, the preparatory work for convening this expanded conference has begun based on what the (UN) Secretary-General has mentioned,” said President Christodoulides, adding that the UN has proceeded with the hiring of an academic constitutional expert who was involved in the previous negotiation process.
Regarding the convergences, the President emphasised that “it is very positive that the Secretary-General referred to the convergences for the first time.”
He then pointed out that he convened a National Council on Monday to inform the political leaders, noting that “we will be working throughout August” and that “since yesterday, the preparatory work at a technical level has begun, so that the data is created not for convening an expanded conference, but for convening a successful expanded conference that will announce the resumption of talks from where they were interrupted.”
When asked if Raffaele Fitto conveyed the position of Brussels regarding EU-Turkey relations, the President said that “with Mr. Fitto, we discussed the two aspects concerning the EU’s involvement, in the leading involvement of the EU, which began after the Secretary-General recognised the role of the EU in two dimensions.”
“It does not concern the content of the solution, the role of the EU in the negotiations; it can provide a safety valve on many issues where there are different opinions, and secondly, the EU-Turkey relations, which we discussed with Mr. Fitto (the European Commission’s Special Representative for Cyprus) very specifically, expressing readiness and conveying some very specific proposals and recommendations,” he noted.
Noting that “we are doing everything we can to take advantage of the critical moment in the Cyprus issue,” the President expressed hope that he would have the support of all political parties, organised groups, municipalities, and the entire Cypriot people to achieve the goal of ending the occupation, the “liberation and reunification of our country.”
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 due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose term nears its end, announced he would convene another meeting in broader format, after adequate preparation, but gave no timeline. He secured to that end the consensus of both sides and of the guarantor powers. María Angela Holguín, Guterres’ Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties. Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto acts as the European Commission’s Special Representative for Cyprus, succeeding EU special envoy Johannes Hahn.
