Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed Nikos Christodoulides to the Maximos Mansion in Athens yesterday morning with an opening reference to winds, waters, wildfires, civil protection and the drums of war across the wider region, before the two leaders moved on to discuss preparations for the Cyprus talks.
President Christodoulides briefed the Greek prime minister, who had taken the initiative for the meeting, that the Republic's aim through the UN Secretary-General's visit is to secure a positive outcome. He said Cyprus had "the political will and the planning" in place, and that the two sides would discuss the details so as to create the conditions for talks to resume from where they broke off in the summer of 2017, always within the UN framework and in line with EU principles and law.
Christodoulides also highlighted the European Union's growing engagement, which he said was the result of joint initiatives by the two governments, noting that the appointment of the Commission's executive vice-president was a clear sign of both interest and intent on the part of the European Commission's president. He added that it was now understood by everyone that the Cyprus problem is a European issue.
Turning to recent diplomatic contacts, he said the Secretary-General's personal envoy, Maria Angela Holguín, had met two days earlier with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and that he had received an initial briefing on the meeting. For the record, the Turkish foreign minister repeated Ankara's position in favour of a two-state solution for Cyprus during that meeting with Holguín. Christodoulides said the two governments would discuss all of this further, suggesting he had more information than what had so far been made public, and added that the shared effort should aim not only at resuming talks but at finally achieving, 52 years after the Turkish invasion and the start of 52 years of occupation, a positive outcome toward the reunification of Cyprus.
For his part, Mitsotakis said Greece fully supports the initiatives for a substantive resumption of talks, always within the framework of United Nations Security Council resolutions. He described it as "a position from which Greece and Cyprus will never diverge," adding that the two sides needed a detailed discussion to ensure complete coordination, given that this momentum coincides with the end of the current Secretary-General's term, which brings with it a sense of urgency. He said that if real progress is to be made, now is the time to explore the possibilities of turning it into reality, stressing that Greece always stands practically by Cyprus' side and would once again be present and supportive of the president personally, ahead of the difficult and demanding talks he faces in the coming week.
Following their private meeting, expanded talks took place between the two governments' delegations.
