‘Conditions for restart of negotiations must be created in NY’
Conditions for the resumption of negotiations must be created at the upcoming enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem in New York, deputy government spokesman Yiannis Antoniou said on Sunday.
The 5+1 meeting will take place on July 16 and 17 with representatives from the three guarantor powers, the UN and the EU.
In preparation for that meeting the UNSG’s personal envoy for Cyprus Maria Angela Holguin was due to arrive in Cyprus on Sunday before meeting President Nikos Christodoulides on Monday.
Christodoulides “will also use this meeting with Mrs Holguin to convey to her our readiness to go to the new meeting in New York, in a positive spirit,” Antoniou said.
“We want to see things move forward and we are waiting to see what will be delivered at this meeting,” he added.
But, he added that “from the public statements of the Turkish Cypriot side and, more generally, from the stance taken by the Turkish side, realistic expectations are not created that we are at the point we would like”.
The government, he said, supports Holguin’s mission and Christodoulides will go to New York ready for all scenarios. “We will respond to anything that arises and we will manage it when we have something tangible in front of us.”
Our position is that in New York the conditions must be created to go to the next step, which is, of course, the start of direct negotiations for a comprehensive solution of the Cyprus problem, Antonious added.
Asked about the UNSG’s six-monthly reports, the draft of which were released this week, Antoniou said “the secretary-general always moves within a framework of equal distances. This is his role and many times we have reservations about some of his suggestions. We note what it records, but we reserve the right to have disagreements, such as on the issue of usurpations.”
Asked if these reservations will be raised, Antoniou said “we always convey our reservations. We are at the stage of drafts, we are making demarches, in order to pursue the changes we want”.