President Nikos Christodoulides on Tuesday said that both he and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman had during their meeting earlier in the day agreed that a solution to the Cyprus problem “must not deviate” from the United Nations security council resolutions which have been issued regarding the Cyprus problem.
“The UN security council is clear regarding the form of the solution to the Cyprus problem, which must not deviate from the relevant security council resolutions, and that whoever the UN secretary-general may be, he receives his mandate from the security council,” he said.
He added that “this is a point on which we are in complete agreement with Erhurman”.
The matter came about with the term of incumbent UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres set to expire at the end of December, with Christodoulides describing this as a “significant factor” in discussions between himself and Erhurman.
“It was something we discussed today. In fact, the discussion began with that very issue,” he said, though he was also keen to stress that an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, involving the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN before the end of Guterres term cannot be ruled out.
He said that “we have not reached a conclusion” on the matter and that “there is no such outcome”, and that instead, “efforts are being made” with the aim of organising an enlarged meeting before the end of the year.
This, he said, is the reason behind UN Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin’s forthcoming visit to the island before the end of the month, while the Cyprus problem has “the secretary-general’s political commitment”.
On the matter of how feasible the holding of such a meeting may be before the end of the year, he said that “the issue is not simply holding an enlarged meeting”, but that “the goal is to hold an enlarged meeting where we can announce the resumption of negotiations”.
Positive responses received on ‘some’ of 19 points
“That is the direction in which we are working. It is also the direction of the specific – very specific – proposal I have submitted to and shared with the secretary-general, which was discussed again today. We will see how things develop in the coming weeks,” he said.
Asked about the topics discussed at Tuesday’s meeting, he said that he had for a second time raised his 19 points for discussion, and that “for some, I received negative responses, for others, positive ones, and regarding some, [Erhurman] asked for more time to decide and examine the issues”.
Then asked about the matter of crossing points, he said that “it is a matter which remains pending”.
“The Turkish Cypriot leader wishes to review further details regarding certain new proposals we had submitted within the framework of the 19 points,” he said.
He then moved to stress that the planned joint visit of both leaders to the bicommunal festival in the Larnaca district village of Pyla is “absolutely not” simply a symbolic gesture.
On the matter of confidence-building measures, he said that the seven points upon which Guterres had demanded progress when he visited the island in July were discussed, but that “some of those are issues which were addressed quite some time ago”.
“In any case, the secretary-general was very specific regarding the proposals he had submitted when he was here, and he knows firsthand what the reactions were, both mine and Erhurman’s,” he said.