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Informal 5+1 meeting would be held at Greentree says Mavroyiannis

The informal 5+1 meeting is an ambitious goal, however we should not miss the window of opportunity presented to us, outgoing permanent representative of Cyprus to the UN and interlocutor of the Greek Cypriot side Ambassador Andreas Mavroyiannis has said.

“This requires a lot of effort in the coming weeks and if it really becomes possible, the meeting will take place in New York, at Greentree, where we will try to create a favourable environment for negotiations and stop what Turkey is doing on the Varoshia issue, drilling in the in the Cyprus EEZ etc.,” Mavroyiannis said at a farewell event organised in his honour by the Federation of Cypriot Organisations of America and the World Coordinating Committee for the Cyprus Struggle (Pseka).

According to Turkish Cypriot news portal Kibris Postasi the meeting is expected to take place at the beginning of March.

Mavroyiannis will be replaced at the UN by his deputy, Andreas Hadjichrysanthou.

In his speech, Mavroyiannis said President Anastasiades decided he should return to Cyprus, as due to the pandemic conditions it was very difficult to combine his duties as a negotiator and permanent representative to the UN.

Referring to the developments regarding the Cyprus issue, he said that after the failure to find a solution in Crans Montana three years ago, the Secretary General asked for some time to reflect before the resumption of new negotiations.

Now, due to a change of leadership in the occupied areas and other factors, including a change in Turkey’s policy, the Secretary-General called for an informal 5+1 meeting to see how we can get back to the negotiations.

On January 14, President Nicos Anastasiades invited the members of the National Council to escort him to the informal five-party meeting.

The holding of the summit was discussed after UN Special Envoy Jane Holl Lute conveyed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ decision to convene such a meeting to the Greek and Turkish leaders earlier this month.

After referring to the Greentree meeting, Mavroyiannis stressed if we manage to reach the stage of substantive negotiations, then we will see if we have real chances to find a solution.

“Now there is some chance for progress, if Turkey reviews and reconsiders its aggressive policies,” he added.

He also pointed out the positions expressed by the Turkish Cypriot side after the emergence of the new leader of Ersin Tatar for the creation of a kind of confederation with the existence of two separate states with sovereign equality.

There are some uncertainties, Mavroyiannis said. After the US elections, Turkey does not know exactly what to expect from the new US Government. There is also uncertainty created by the fact that the European Union is responding to Turkey’s challenges.

Talks were held before at Greentree between then Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders Demetris Christofias and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Dervis Eroglu in 2012 under Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN from 2007 until 2016.

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