‘Can’t expect deadlock to break in first meeting’

The Greek Cypriot side did not expect the unacceptable Turkish and Turkish Cypriot stance on the Cyprus problem to shift within the first official meeting between current leaders, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Saturday.

Letymbiotis told CyBC that Friday’s meeting between President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar did, however, offer an opportunity for further developments down the line.

The spokesman reiterated that Christodoulides informed Tatar of his desire to hold a joint meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly in September, which Tatar received positively.

Notably, however, Tatar said later Friday – when back in the north – that: “It is not right to take this to another place, to create the perception that this is preparation for negotiations. It is no such thing. We were there because it was a human issue. If a negotiation process is to begin, it will not come from a change in our policy. With the confirmation and acceptance of our sovereign equality, our equal international status, that process can begin.”