Christodoulides ‘to announce two unilateral measures’ for Turkish Cypriots

President Nikos Christodoulides is to announce “two unilateral measures” for “the benefit of Turkish Cypriots”, according to reports on Tuesday.

The Cyprus News Agency reported that he has asked Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman to give his blessing to the measures, one of which concerns the health sector, and the other concerns the economy.

It added that Christodoulides has requested Erhurman’s blessing as “he does not wish to create tension”, and that he “wishes to create a personal relationship” with his interlocutor.

Meanwhile, it also reported that United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin is to return to the island this month, having first travelled “for contacts” to Geneva, Brussels, and Washington DC.

While in Cyprus, she will meet both Christodoulides and Erhurman, with Christodoulides having requested another tripartite meeting, similar to that which took place in December.

Erhurman said on Monday that he hopes Holguin’s next visit to the island will “yield concrete results aimed at creating the atmosphere for a solution”, and stressed that the Turkish Cypriot side is “ready for the meeting”.

“In line with our results-oriented approach, our request is that the technical-level work be accelerated before that meeting and that Holguin’s visit yield concrete results aimed at creating the atmosphere for a solution,” he said.

It is expected that a fresh 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, will take place in the weeks that follow Holguin’s visit.

Reports of plans for two unilateral measures from Christodoulides come two years after he announced a unilateral 14-point package of measures for Turkish Cypriots.

At the time, the government had announced an end to the block on Turkish Cypriots of mixed marriages, wherein one of their parents is a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, from acquiring citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus, though two years on, many Turkish Cypriots remain without Republic of Cyprus citizenship.

The other measures included an expansion to the list of goods allowed to cross between Cyprus’ two sides under the Green Line Regulation, as well as the bolstering of staffing levels at the crossing points and the widening of the Ayios Dhometios crossing point in Nicosia.

In the field of healthcare, Turkish Cypriots were given access to the Institute of Neurology and Genetics and will have their “extraordinary and urgent pharmaceutical needs” covered by the government.

The government also began to pay widows’ pensions to Turkish Cypriots who have the right to one and allowed Turkish Cypriots the right to participate in human resources programmes.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriots who turn 18 were given the right to obtain a Youth Culture Card, loaded with €220 they can spend on attending cultural events, while the government also promised to implement “rapid transport measures” for Turkish Cypriot children who cross the Ledra Palace crossing point to go to school every day.