Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman appeared together at the Pyla peace festival on Saturday night, three days before the two leaders meet again.
The village lies inside the UN buffer zone. It is one of the few communities in Cyprus where Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots still live side by side.
Christodoulides arrived at the Pyla peace festival with a message for reunification. If a solution depended only on Greek and Turkish Cypriots, he said, Cyprus would already be reunified.
Even so, that view does not absolve the two communities of their own responsibilities, he said. For Greek Cypriots, he added, there is no option other than reunification.
Joint appearances such as the Pyla peace festival matter, he said, but are not enough on their own. Political will is the decisive factor, he said.
New ideas sent to Guterres
Christodoulides said he has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres with specific ideas for the next stage of the process.
The proposals took shape after a meeting of the National Council and his contacts in New York, he said. They cover the method of negotiations, the substance of the Cyprus problem and confidence-building measures.
He said he hopes his next meeting with Erhurman will bring progress. The two leaders are due to meet again on Tuesday, 20 October.
Cyprus talks stuck on crossing points
At the Pyla peace festival, Christodoulides also answered María Ángela Holguín, the UN chief’s personal envoy on Cyprus.
Writing in a Cypriot newspaper, she asked how the sides could agree on a full settlement. In two years, she wrote, they had not agreed to open even one new crossing point.
He said he had exchanged lengthy emails with her. A specific compromise on crossings went on the table at a joint dinner with Guterres, he said.
Holguín knows which side accepted it at once and which rejected it, he said, and that a heated discussion with the Secretary-General followed.
In his view, the blame for the deadlock cannot fall equally on both sides. He also wants Holguín to join the leaders’ meetings so she can follow the talks first-hand.
First held in 2015, the Pyla peace festival last took place in 2019 before falling dormant. The Pyla Community Council organised this year’s event, with traditional dances and music from both communities.
Christodoulides and Erhurman agreed to attend the Pyla peace festival at their UN-hosted meeting on 13 October. They also agreed to join upcoming meetings of the technical committees on cultural heritage and on youth, as well as the Civil Society Advisory Body.
Turkey’s illegal occupation, which began with its 1974 invasion, has kept Cyprus divided ever since. In September, talks in New York stayed deadlocked as Turkey held to a two-state position.
Before that, in July, Christodoulides pressed Erhurman on missing persons excavations in the Turkish-occupied areas.
Source: Proto Thema
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