President Nikos Christodoulides has identified three key outcomes from the United Nations Secretary-General’s contacts in Cyprus: a positive response from Turkey to a new expanded conference, a return to the negotiating framework established up to Crans-Montana and a more substantial role for the European Union.
He said these developments could help create the conditions needed for the resumption of substantive negotiations on the Cyprus problem, while acknowledging that he would have preferred more concrete results from the meetings.
Confidence-building measures not a precondition
Responding to reporters, Christodoulides clarified that confidence-building measures are not a prerequisite for convening a new expanded meeting.
While such measures would represent a positive development, he said the priority was to establish a common understanding of the methodology that would guide the process and to create the appropriate conditions for negotiations to resume.
Ankara’s response to a new conference
The President said UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ announcement that he intends to convene another informal 5+1 conference was confirmed following his contacts with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
According to Christodoulides, this indicated a positive response from Ankara.
He noted that even the intended objective of the process had previously been questioned. Guterres’ statements, he said, now made clear that the goal was to prepare an expanded meeting focused exclusively on restarting negotiations.
The UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus, María Ángela Holguín, will continue working towards that objective.
EU role in preparing the process
Christodoulides also highlighted what he described as the European Union’s strengthened involvement in the process, an objective pursued by Nicosia from the outset.
He said the EU was prepared to contribute to the substance of the negotiations, particularly on issues where no convergence had been achieved.
The EU’s Special Representative for Cyprus, Raffaele Fitto, will also support the process with the assistance of a specialised legal committee.
The President added that the interest in achieving progress in EU-Turkey relations could also contribute positively to the wider effort.
Negotiating framework up to Crans-Montana
Christodoulides said Guterres’ public statements demonstrated that the United Nations remained committed to the relevant UN resolutions and to the negotiating framework developed up to the talks at Crans-Montana.
“We now know where the negotiations begin,” he said, adding that this strengthened the Greek Cypriot side’s optimism ahead of the next stage of the process.
The President said that, for the first time since Crans-Montana, the substance of the Cyprus problem had once again been discussed.
He described the development as an important step towards creating the conditions for the resumption of negotiations, although he said he had hoped for more substantial outcomes.
