President Nicos Christodoulides is ready to reveal his negotiating position and make unilateral gestures towards the Turkish Cypriot side once he sits at the negotiation table with Tufan Erhurman, sources told Phileleftheros.
The president delivered this message face-to-face to the Turkish Cypriot leader during their meetings last month, the sources said.
On Erhurman’s demands and preconditions, the Greek Cypriot side’s position is that Christodoulides will reveal his cards only when they sit at the negotiation table. The Greek Cypriot side’s give will depend on what Erhurman offers in return, according to the same sources.
Christodoulides clarified to his Turkish Cypriot interlocutor that much will depend on issues of interest to the Greek Cypriot side as well.
However, the prospect of the two sides returning to the negotiation table currently seems quite distant, given the stance held by the Turkish side generally and by Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman specifically.
Christodoulides proposed a new joint trilateral meeting with Erhurman during recent talks with María Ángela Holguin about arranging meetings for her visit next week, according to sources close to the Greek Cypriot side. But there had been no response from the Turkish Cypriot leadership until yesterday.
A new meeting would mark progress in the Cyprus talks after the first joint meeting in December, when the UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy was in Cyprus.
Holguin will be on the island next week for a new round of contacts with both leaders, and a new trilateral could possibly take place before her arrival. For now, however, Erhurman has only publicly expressed readiness to meet with Holguin.
Before coming to Nicosia, the UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy will pass through Washington, Brussels and Geneva. These contacts may relate to UN moves for continuing efforts on the Cyprus issue.
Beyond meetings with Holguin and Erhurman, Christodoulides appears ready for new unilateral gestures benefiting the Turkish Cypriot community. However, not wanting this interpreted by the Turkish Cypriot side as a move that would pressure Erhurman, he is not rushing to make any gesture whilst leaving it understood that he will wait to see whether his Turkish Cypriot interlocutor responds positively to such a move.
It has also been clarified that these gestures will be unilateral and will not be subject to discussion, as they do not fall within the framework of confidence-building measures. According to sources, they will concern the economy and health sectors.
Regarding confidence-building measures, Nicosia appears to have communicated to its interlocutors that these will be easier to discuss if substantive Cyprus talks have started in the meantime. This shows it does not favour only talks on confidence-building measures, as the Turkish Cypriot side desires.
One of the confidence-building measures proposed by the UN Secretary-General himself, and which both leaders agreed to at the informal five-party Geneva talks last March, was the creation of a photovoltaic park in an area of the dead zone. This project has not progressed due to problems raised by the Turkish Cypriot side.
According to reports in the Turkish press, Turkey intends to build a solar energy station in the occupied area of Cyprus. The justification is that this would end the “energy blockade by the Greek Cypriot side”. This intention was announced to Turkish journalists by Olgun Amcaoglu, the so-called “minister of economy and energy” of the occupation regime.
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