Govt ‘reservedly optimistic’ ahead of Guterres trip to Cyprus

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrives in Cyprus on Monday evening in the framework of efforts to solve the Cyprus problem, with the government saying it was “reservedly optimistic”. Earlier on Monday, the UN chief’s special envoy Maria Angela Holguin will be meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides at 9.30am and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman at 11am. Guterres starts his meetings on Tuesday, first with Christodoulides and then at 11.45am with Erhurman. He will also lay a wreath at the peacekeeper’s monument outside Ledra Palace and at 4pm will visit the laboratory of the Committee on Missing Persons, before meeting with the negotiators, the heads of the technical committees and representatives of civil society. In the evening, the UN chief will attend a private dinner with Christodoulides and Erhurman at the residence of special representative Khassim Diagne. On Wednesday, Guterres will hold a joint meeting with Christodoulides and Erhurman, followed by a press conference. In a speech on Sunday, deputy government spokesman Yiannis Antoniou said “we are reservedly optimistic, we remain realists and we know that the road ahead is long and difficult.” Meanwhile, a bicommunal peace group has called for parallel demonstrations in north and south Nicosia on Tuesday to coincide with Guterres’ visit, urging renewed efforts to reunify the island under a federal settlement. The Bi-communal Peace Initiative – United Cyprus said the rallies, to be held under the slogan “Federal Solution Now”, will begin at 6.30pm, the same time Guterres is due to host Christodoulides and Erhurman for a dinner meeting. The demonstration in the south will take place at the access road to the UN representative’s office opposite the University of Nicosia, while a parallel gathering in the north will be held at the Kermia (Metehan) roundabout. Earlier that day, at 10.30am, a bicommunal delegation representing organisations supporting the initiative is expected to gather at the Home for Cooperation in the buffer zone to welcome the UN secretary-general as he crosses to the north and to present him with a joint message. Guterres is due to visit Cyprus from July 27 to 29 in what the government has described as the first visit by a UN secretary-general to the island in 16 years. Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said that the visit was intended to help create the conditions for an informal expanded conference on the Cyprus problem and to support efforts to restart negotiations. He added that such a meeting could take place before the end of the summer if Turkey adopted what he described as a “more constructive approach” and dropped its insistence on a two-state solution.