UNSG personal envoy on Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, is expected to arrive on the island on January 29, CNA has learnt.
According to information CNA has obtained, Cuellar is expected to arrive in Cyprus a day before her meetings with the leaders of the two communities, which are to take place on January 30.
Upon her arrival, she is to be received by special representative of the UN Secretary General, and head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), Colin Stewart.
During her visit, Cuellar is to also hold a series of meetings, including with the negotiators of the two sides, civil society representatives, members of the diplomatic community, the UN good offices mission in Cyprus, UNFICYP peacekeepers, and the Committee on Missing Persons.
As regards her meetings with members of the diplomatic community, Cuellar is expected to meet with the ambassadors of the United Kingdom, Greece, and the USA, among others.
According to the same sources, she is expected to visit the buffer
zone as well as the fenced area of Varosha, in the occupied part of Famagusta.
This will be Cuellar’s first visit to Cyprus as personal envoy of the UNSG, following her appointment earlier this month.
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
MOSCOW: Azerbaijan on Tuesday accused the EU’s top diplomat of “instigating militarization and an aggressive policy towards Azerbaijan.”
In a statement on the ministry’s website, Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizada rejected remarks by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell – also known as the high representative – about Azerbaijan’s alleged claims on Armenian territories.
“The blatant misinterpretation of facts by the EU High Representative is an open disregard of Azerbaijan’s legitimate interests, and such threatening rhetoric is a clear example of double standards that further exacerbates Azerbaijan-EU relations,’ said the statement.
“While fully distorting the thoughts of Azerbaijan’s President [Ilham Aliyev] about the historical facts related to the territories of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the High Representative is instigating militarization and an aggressive policy towards Azerbaijan,” he said.
The diplomat stressed that “Azerbaijan has always been committed to negotiations, peace, and stability
with Armenia.”
“Azerbaijan’s measures ending aggression and separatism pave the way for concluding a peace agreement with Armenia,” he stressed, referring at least in part to the Azerbaijani army’s anti-terrorism operation last September in its once-occupied territory of Karabakh to establish constitutional order, leading illegal separatist forces in the region to surrender.
Hajizada also criticized Borrell for expressing solidarity with France over the expulsion last December of its diplomats from Azerbaijan, saying: “Such a biased statement, while ignoring baseless measures against Azerbaijan’s diplomats in France, demonstrates how this institution is negatively affected by certain countries, which openly neglect all the rules and guidelines of diplomatic conduct, and refuse to conduct investigations.’
He added: “Azerbaijan, besides being committed to its international obligations and international law, will resolutely prevent attempts to legitimize any claims and threatening language against its nationa
l interest.’
On Jan. 22, Borrell said that the EU was “concerned about the claims of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the territory of Armenia.”
He said “any violation of Armenian sovereignty is fraught with serious consequences for relations between Brussels and Baku.”
Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that also opened the door to normalization.
Following an anti-terrorism operation last September, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh.
As Karabakh was liberated from some 30 years of Armenian occupation, France expressed support for Azerbaijan.
Source:Anadolu Agency