‘No clear timetable for next steps’ on Cyprus problem
There is “no clear timetable for the next steps” on the Cyprus problem after this week’s tripartite meeting ended without agreement, according to reports on Friday.
The Cyprus News Agency quoted a “top Greek diplomatic source” as having said that at present, there are “no major developments emerging which would create great momentum” after United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin, President Nikos Christodouildes, and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman met on Wednesday.
However, the source did note that “the confidence-building measures, as formulated in the last enlarged meeting in New York, are progressing”, with that meeting having taken place in July last year.
The source added that Erhurman’s election as Turkish Cypriot leader last October “changed the circumstances”, but echoed Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis’ statements on the matter on Thursday, saying that “the conditions are not yet ripe for a new enlarged meeting”.
On this front, the source said the next enlarged meeting, involving the UN, the island’s two sides, and its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom “could take place in the spring” and added that Holguin is making a “great effort” to this end.
The source also said that the Cyprus problem “remains a high priority” for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and that this “creates satisfaction”.
Holguin said after Wednesday’s meeting that “for the time being, there will be no new enlarged meeting”, and added that for such a meeting to be arranged, “we need results on the confidence-building measures”.
She went on to say that “I am waiting for something more”, before responding to a question over whether Christodoulides and Erhurman had responded to the demand for more progress she had made on Tuesday by saying “I think they might. Not yet”.
Later on Wednesday, it was reported that Guterres had been “seriously disturbed” by the lack of progress achieved on the Cyprus problem since the previous tripartite meeting, which had taken place last month.
According to the reports, Guterres had “emphasised that the Cypriot leaders must urgently take steps to facilitate life between the two communities” in the form of confidence-building measures.
It was also reported that he had instructed Holguin to “tell the leaders that if no steps are taken on confidence-building measures, I will absolutely not convene an enlarged meeting” after Wednesday’s tripartite meeting.
Holguin had on Wednesday insisted that she is “not disappointed” in the lack of results from her latest visit to the island, while Christodoulides also denied being disappointed in the ostensible lack of progress.
He went on to say that “the discussion will continue”, and that Erhurman had “expressed his readiness to meet without Holguin being present if she is not in Cyprus”.
“We will not wait for her to return,” he said.
Erhurman, meanwhile, said that “the atmosphere of trust was not at the desired level” between the island’s two sides, and said that as such, he had told Holguin that holding an enlarged meeting “would therefore be meaningless at this stage”.
He closed his remarks by saying that Wednesday’s meeting had been “useful but not very productive”.