President Nikos Christodoulides brought a specific five-point proposal to today’s trilateral meeting with UN envoy María Ángela Holguín and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman that addresses core Cyprus problem issues whilst keeping confidence-building measures on the table.
Speaking before leaving the Presidential Palace, Christodoulides said talks could restart from where they broke down at Crans-Montana and significant confidence-building measures could be agreed if there is political will.
The two leaders arrived at the UN Special Representative’s residence in the buffer zone around 11:10am for the meeting with the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy. The meeting concluded shortly after 1:00pm.
The leaders exchanged proposals aimed at charting a path forward to start substantive negotiations, according to a UN statement released after the meeting. They also reviewed progress on the list of confidence-building measures previously tabled and noted some progress achieved between the two sides.
Holguín stressed that direct dialogue is essential for expressing views, concerns and expectations, particularly as the process is currently in a pre-negotiation phase, the UN said. Continuous and direct dialogue is necessary, she said.
The leaders will continue efforts to reach agreements on the various confidence-building measures on the table and towards starting substantive negotiations, the statement said.
Before the meeting, Christodoulides addressed all four methodology points raised by Erhürman, saying they have been answered from the start. He accepts the convergences which, if the other side also accepts them, would resolve 80-90% of the Cyprus problem—which also answers questions about timelines, he said.
He repeated that he does not accept predetermined consequences, whilst the political equality issue ended with the written statement after the previous trilateral meeting. “I’m going with a very positive attitude,” he said before entering the presidential vehicle.
Holguín said after meeting Christodoulides yesterday that today’s discussion would focus on Erhürman’s proposed methodology. If no progress is made, essentially a new multilateral conference on Cyprus cannot be convened, she said.
After meeting the Turkish Cypriot leader yesterday, Holguín expressed hope for progress on confidence-building measures and described today’s meeting as substantive.
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