Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar discussed with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres the continuation of the two sides’ informal dialogue in a more expanded format, with the participation of the guarantor powers, that will be led probably not by his Personal Envoy María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar but possibly by the UN Under Secretary General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, sources said after the informal dinner the two leaders had with Guterres in New York.
According to the same sources Guterres, Christodoulides and Tatar also touched upon the discussions that the two leaders will have with a view to look into the opening of new checkpoints.
As the sources explained, this will essentially be a two track effort, one towards an expanded informal dialogue, and one pursuing confidence-building between the communities, so as to gradually pave the way for the resumption of negotiations.
Although the Turkish Cypriot side favors the expanded
contacts to continue without the UK, and to include the other two guarantor powers, namely Greece and Turkey, it is likely that the UK will be included in the effort as the UNSG is going to contact London about the next steps, as he has already done with Athens and Ankara. Greece and the UK reportedly do not accept any other format than the five-party one (Greek Cypriot side, Turkish Cypriot side, Greece, Turkey and the UK).
Tatar reportedly disagreed with the re-appointment of Holguin to lead this effort, since he considers that the Colombian diplomat did not deliver what the Turkish Cypriot side expected as regards the three “Ds” (direct trade, direct flights, direct contacts). This means that the UN Secretary General will task another person to work on these expanded contacts, possibly the Under Secretary General Rosemary DiCarlo, the sources said.
The Greek Cypriot side insisted that the safeguarding of the three singles (single sovereignty, single personality, single citizenship) is non-negotiable, as
well as the safeguarding of the Republic of Cyprus and the functionality of the state, which is necessary for an EU member state. It also reiterated that it is not discussing anything else than ending guarantees or its position that the withdrawal of foreign troops needs to happen with a sunset clause instead of a review clause.
The discussion on confidence-building measures focused mainly on the possible opening of new crossing points, with Tatar asking again for the opening of the Mia Milia crossing point. Christodoulides replied that the Greek Cypriot side is asking for the opening of a crossing point either at Piroi or Kokkina. At the same time, Christodoulides also raised the idea of establishing a Truth Commission as a possible confidence building measure, with Tatar rejecting such a step before a solution. A proposal to create a technical committee on youth issues was also mentioned, which Tatar also rejected.
The dinner, according to sources, started with an intervention by the UN Secretary General
who said that there is a need for an open discussion with “out of the box” ideas, asking the leaders to avoid confronting each other on the basis of previous statements, and thanked Holguin for her work, although she did not achieve the goal of resuming talks.
Guterres reportedly noted that he undertook this initiative as someone who understands Cyprus because of the situation in the region. He added that although the two sides have different starting points, with one leader talking about sovereign equality and the other about UN resolutions, he believes that gradually some elements for discussion can be found.
The other important element that the UN Secretary General stressed is the need to move forward with some confidence-building measures to improve relations between the two communities and the lives of citizens.
According to the same sources, the President thanked the UN Secretary General for his initiative, and referred to the points by which he believes he proved the Greek Cypriot side’s political w
ill and commitment for a solution, such as the agreement of the Greek Cypriot side for the appointment of a UNSG’s Personal Envoy instead of a Special Envoy, the acceptance of the appointment of a specific person as an Envoy who was however rejected by Turkey, the acceptance of Holguin’s appointment, as well as her proposals for meetings with the Turkish Cypriot leader.
Christodoulides also said that he gave the green light for the EU – Turkish relations to move forward, citing the conclusions of last April’s European Council, that the Cyprus government had accepted Turkish FM Hakan Fidan’s participation in an EU Foreign Ministers informal meeting, and that he had announced measures to support Turkish Cypriot citizens of the Republic of Cyprus.
Regarding the future of the process, although the UN Secretary General did not refer to the report submitted to him by Holguin, he raised the issues of governance and guarantees, expressing his belief that a discussion could be held on the basis of what the Greek Cyp
riot side says, recalling that in Crans-Montana he had said that guarantees could not be maintained and that progress had been made in the discussion on troops.
On his part, Tatar reportedly reiterated his positions on sovereign equality and referred to the prosecution by the Republic of Cyprus of persons involved in the usurpation of Greek Cypriot property in Cyprus’ occupied areas, asking for Christodoulides’ intervention on this issue. Christodoulides reportedly replied, among others, that the executive power does not influence the judiciary in EU states.
The Greek Cypriot side also insisted that there could not be two states representing Cyprus in the EU as Tatar reportedly suggested.
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 Columbia 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.
Source: Cyprus News Agency