Christodoulides: 19 points ‘remain on table’

President Nikos Christodoulides on Tuesday said that his 19 points for discussion on the Cyprus problem “remain on the table”, ahead of meeting Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman. “Of course they are on the table. The [United Nations] secretary-general is aware, and so is Erhurman, who reserved the right to give me an answer at our next meeting,” he said. He added that he had “specifically submitted them before we went to New York” for the UN’s high-level week at the end of September, but said that “despite our wishes, it was not possible to hold a meeting there”. “Therefore, today, we will discuss these matters, and, naturally, any other topic Erhurman wishes to raise. We have no issue with that. We are not afraid of dialogue, discussions, or negotiations,” he said. On this front, he waved away suggestions that only the seven issues upon which Guterres had demanded progress when he visited the island in July would be up for discussion at Tuesday’s meeting, saying that “the agenda is determined by mutual agreement, and no such agreement exists”. “I am going with a very positive attitude and political will to pick up the discussion where we left off during our last meeting, which was positive, prior to our trip to New York, and I reiterate my hope that some concrete, positive results will emerge,” he said. Erhurman said only seven proposals are on agenda Earlier, Erhurman had said that “the agenda for today’s meeting is the seven proposals for confidence-building measures which Guterres voiced on the island at the end of July”. “As is known, we have already accepted six of the seven proposals. We are attending the meeting with the aim of conducting a result-oriented discussion,” he said. Those seven issues were crossing points, mine clearance, the citizenship of children born of mixed marriages, sports, joint disaster response and a joint mechanism to combat irregular migration. Christodoulides’ 19 points are not publicly known, with Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou having said after the most recent National Council meeting that he had been informed of them, but that he had agreed not to disclose them. Erhurman, meanwhile, described them as “throwing a spanner in the works”. Tuesday’s meeting will be the first since the UN high-level week, with the two sides having ended that week further apart than they started it, prompting UN Cyprus envoy Maria Angela Holguin to warn that “it is clear that the favourable window of opportunity we had throughout last year and earlier this year is gradually closing”.