Next leaders’ meeting to take place on Wednesday

President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman will next meet next Wednesday, with the meeting marking the first of the weekly comings together to which the pair had agreed when they met on Wednesday afternoon. “The decision for more frequent meetings is already being translated into action. This morning, the Greek Cypriot chief negotiator [Menelaos Menelaou] … conveyed three proposed dates for the next meeting. The response from the Turkish Cypriot side was immediate,” government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Thursday. He said that the convening of next week’s meeting “means that the dialogue is gaining continuity and a steady pace”, and that “the momentum which has already been created will be maintained”. “Our will is clear. We will continue intensively, constructively and with a focus on the substance, utilising every opportunity which can lead us closer to the resumption of negotiations,” he said. Following on from the next leaders’ meeting, United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin is set to arrive on the island at the end of the first week of next month, with Letymbiotis saying that “before us now lies the prospect of a new enlarged meeting, for which preparations have already begun”. “The goal, as set by the UN secretary-general himself, is for this meeting to be successful, that is, to constitute the decisive step towards the announcement of the resumption of substantive negotiations from the point at which they were interrupted,” he said. On this front, he stressed that the Greek Cypriot side’s approach is “optimistic, but realistic”, and that as such, “we do not underestimate the difficulties and do not discount the results”. “We know, however, that after a long period of stagnation, there is again more frequent contact, more substantive discussions, and specific next steps. The aim is and remains for this mobility to acquire continuity, content, and results,” he said. He then stressed that despite this, “we do not lose the overall dimension of the Cyprus problem from the equation”. “Progress at the level of the two leaders is necessary, but in order to achieve substantive progress, the attitude, will, and contribution of the guarantor powers, and especially Turkey, remain decisive,” he said. Returning to the matter of Wednesday’s meeting, he described the discussion as “another positive step” and part of “an effort which is regaining pace and prospects”. “We will continue with the same perseverance, consistency and constructive attitude. We will continue to utilise every opportunity which is created and turn every step into progress,” he said. In line with this, he said that “our goal remains singular” and that that goal is “the resumption of substantive negotiations for the liberation of our homeland, within the framework of the UN security council resolutions”. Following UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ visit to the island last month, Erhurman had called for leaders’ meetings to take place once a week so as to achieve what Guterres had described as “adequate progress” on the matters of confidence-building measures, the meeting’s methodology, and the substance of the talks. Guterres’ call for “adequate progress” was followed by UN Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin saying that the implementation of confidence-building measures is an “indispensable condition” to be fulfilled ahead of an enlarged meeting, which will be attended by the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN. Chief among those possible confidence-building measures is the possible opening of crossing points between the island’s two sides, on which talks remained deadlocked over the question of whether to break up the package of four locations upon which the sides had agreed last year. On this matter, the Greek Cypriot side proposed removing Louroujina, northwest of Larnaca, from the package of four, instead opening crossing points near Athienou, and in the eastern Nicosia suburbs of Mia Milia and Aglandjia, and the Turkish Cypriot side flatly refused to entertain any discussions which did not include all four locations.