Famagusta mayor seeks meeting with UN envoy

Famagusta Mayor Simos Ioannou has requested a meeting with the UN Secretary-General’s envoy Maria Holguin, filing his request with President Nikos Christodoulides, who he met earlier on Tuesday.

Ioannou said Christodoulides told them that Holguin made a positive impression on him, as she is fully informed on the issue, has a negotiating style different from the previous ones and has experiences from other difficult negotiations in Colombia.

Holguin arrived on the island last month and after meetings with Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar was on Tuesday in Greece before she heads to Turkey.

Ioannou and representatives from the municipal council of Famagusta informed the president about meetings the group had on a recent trip to the United States to discuss the Cyprus problem.

He said that in early December last year, the team had meetings in Washington DC and New York.

The Cypriot embassy also organised a think tank in which people interested in the Cyprus problem participated.

In New York, he added, they had meetings with representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, UN officials, the Archbishop of America and the diaspora.

He described the meetings as very constructive, especially with the representatives of Greek origin, who promoted the 50^th anniversary since the Turkish invasion, so that Christodoulides can visit the US to discuss the matter.

He said that during the meetings it was clear that everyone accepted that what Turkey was doing in the enclosed area of Varosha was a clear violation of the status quo and that no one accepted the two-state solution.

“The question is how to convince [Tayyip] Erdogan to sit in down to the talks, from where they left off in Crans Montana,” he said.

He added that the Greek representatives were clearly in favour of their positions, but it was also apparent for the first time from the State Department and the White House that their stance was different.

Ioannou said that they informed the president about the events planned by the Famagusta Municipality for the anniversary of the occupation of Famagusta on August 3, to which American representatives, representatives of the British Parliament, representatives of the Council of Europe, the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, ministers and twinned municipalities from Greece were invited.

He hoped that this would be the last event held as a reminder of the invasion and occupation.

Also speaking on Tuesday, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said issues of concern to the occupied municipality have been discussed such as the issue of the privately owned temporary town hall.