Eyes turn to European Council for progress on Cyprus talks

The next milestone for the Cyprus problem following the UN General Assembly in New York, will be the European Council meeting in December, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Tuesday.

His statements come following a failure in New York to hold a trilateral meeting or have the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appoint a special adviser for the Cyprus problem.

Even the European Union had banked on a breakthrough in New York, with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen telling Christodoulides, according to the Cyprus News Agency, that discussion of EU-Turkey relations by the European Council would be put back to December.

This was to allow for progress to be made on the Cyprus issue, reported the news agency, because the Commission opposes Turkey’s attempts to separate the talks on EU-Turkey relations from Cyprus.

“The goal from the moment we [the government] went to New York and from the moment we took over, through our initiative, to firstly create mobility on the Cyprus problem, and then to make it clear yet again to the international community and the United Nations our dedication to the agreed framework [for a solution],” Letymbiotis told CyBC radio on Tuesday.

He added that it is now a given that Euro-Turkish relations cannot be unrelated and disconnected from the Cyprus problem and Greco-Turkish relations.

Christodoulides’ goal, he added, was to create mobility on the Cyprus issue and to reaffirm the dedication of the Greek Cypriot side to the agreed framework.

He indicated that these goals have been achieved.

He also said that the international community understands that the Greek Cypriot side is making every possible effort to restart negotiations.

Referring to Tuesday’s session of the National Council, he said that President Christodoulides will inform the party leaders of the results of his contacts in New York. At the same time, there will be coordination for the next steps in the Cyprus issue.

In the US, Christodoulides was expected to announce unilateral confidence building measures for the Turkish Cypriots but failed to do so saying, according to reports, he would make the announcement when the time was right.

In a report quoting unnamed sources, Cyprus News Agency said that the president was still studying some ideas of measures but this required work, and their announcement would have to wait.

Meanwhile, on Monday Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said that he would “never accept” the appointment of a United Nations special envoy to Cyprus.

Tatar was speaking at Ercan (Tymbou) airport following his return to the island from the UN General Assembly in New York.

“I told [UN Secretary General Antonio] Guterres that we are very opposed to the appointment of the special representative to implement Security Council decisions, to make reports, and to impose a federal solution onto us,” he said.