Erhurman pledges to ‘contribute’ to ensure Guterres meetings are ‘fruitful’

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Monday promised to “contribute” to ensure that the forthcoming Cyprus problem meetings involving United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are “fruitful”, after meeting UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin at his official residence. He described Monday’s meeting as “productive”, and said that “we will continue to contribute in good faith to [Guterres’] efforts to ensure that the meetings of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow are fruitful”. Holguin, meanwhile, said that she had “a good meeting with Tufan”, and stressed the importance of Guterres’ visit to the island. “This is the testament of [Guterres’] commitment … to Cyprus. This is why he is coming, why he maintains his good offices for years. He has been involved in the Cyprus issue for his ten years as secretary-general, so he has come here to support the efforts and try to move forward with the possibility of having a negotiating process,” she said. Of her own presence on the island, she said that “I am just listening to the leaders and welcoming the secretary-general as he comes to Cyprus”. Holguin had earlier in the day met President Nikos Christodoulides, having previously travelled to both Brussels and Ankara ahead of her return to the island. Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said after Holguin’s meeting with Christodoulides that he hoped Guterres’ forthcoming visit would serve as a “stepping stone towards convening an enlarged meeting” on the Cyprus problem. Such a meeting would involve the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the UN, and Letymbiotis was keen to stress that he believes that the root cause of the lack of progress on the Cyprus problem in recent years is Turkey. “We are aware of the challenges ahead, mainly due to Turkish intransigence,” he said, before later adding that “even a slight glimpse of hope, a window of opportunity, we will take it”. In preparation for his arrival to Cyprus, Guterres had held a telephone conversation with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, while Christodoulides had visited Athens and meeting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Mitsotakis had said of Guterres’ arrival that that with the secretary-general set to leave office at the end of this year, a sense of urgency has been created. “Now is the time to explore the possibility of turning this into reality,” he told Christodoulides. On Friday, Fidan had met Holguin in Ankara, with Holguin having arrived directly from Brussels, where she had met both European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the commission’s envoy for the Cyprus problem Raffaele Fitto in separate meetings. Guterres will hold separate meetings, first with Christodoulides and then with Erhurman, at their official residences on the Tuesday morning. Later on Tuesday, he will visit the Committee on Missing Persons, before holding a tripartite meeting with both leaders on Wednesday at the UN’s good offices mission.