Expectations from the informal summit on the Cyprus problem set to take place in Geneva at the end of this month hinge on Turkey’s positions, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Friday.

The president was asked during a visit to the coronavirus reference hospital in Famagusta to comment on the information that the UN had set allow bar for the informal five-party summit in Geneva.

“Where the bar is will depend on how Turkey will position itself,” Anastasiades said.

The UN Secretary-General’s special envoy Jane Holl Lute is set to arrive to the island on Saturday for separate meetings with the two leaders ahead of the summit which is slated to take place between April 27 to 29.

Lute is expected to discuss with the two leaders procedural matters since the two sides have already expressed their positions. Anastasiades said he will go to the informal meeting, that will also be attended by representatives of guarantors Greece, Turkey and the UK, to discuss the resumption of the talks based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation (BBF) which is the agreed solution framework from where things left off in at the last failed round of talks in Crans-Montana in 2017.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and Turkey call for a two-state solution, accusing the Greek Cypriot side of not showing any goodwill over the years on finding a solution based on the BBF framework.

“What I want to convey and what I am interested in is that we are going with determination and readiness to negotiate what the UN resolutions provide for, what the UN Security Council decisions provide for and, of course, what we have agreed on November 25 (2019), in Berlin, when, under the auspices of the UNSG, a joint meeting was held with (former Turkish Cypriot leader) Mr Akinci,” Anastasiades said.

Therefore, he said, “knowing our clear positions, if they show and abandon the positions they are promoting today, and if they have the will to create or transform the Republic of Cyprus into a truly independent and sovereign a state that will not serve the interests of third parties, but of its inhabitants – Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots – I do not see why there should be no solution.”

He said, however, that as long as the unacceptable positions on the creation of two states or sovereign equality are projected, which is in the same way equivalent to the recognition of sovereignty or an illegal regime, you realise that the responsibility lies not with us, but with those who stray from the UN resolutions.”

Anastasiades is scheduled to meet with Lute on Sunday morning.