Holguin to arrive in Cyprus on Tuesday (Update)

United Nations Envoy Maria Angela Holguin is set to arrive in Cyprus on Tuesday and begin her latest round of meetings.

She is expected to meet with President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, with her meeting with Tatar reportedly scheduled to take place at his official residence in northern Nicosia at around midday on Wednesday.

On Monday, she met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara.

In April, she visited Brussels, meeting with European Council President Charles Michel, European Commissioner for cohesion and reforms Elisa Ferreira, and the European Union’s High Representative for foreign affairs Josep Borrell.

Borrell had said at the time he had “expressed the EU’s full support for her efforts and those of the UN to find a lasting solution to the Cyprus problem.”

Speaking to journalists last month when Holguin’s impending visit was announced, Nikos Christodoulides said, “what we will repeat once again is our commitment to efforts to restart negotiations from where they were interrupted [in Crans Montana in 2017].”

Holguin’s visit is set to come just weeks before the end of the completion of six months since she was appointed to the role of UN Envoy – the timeframe on which Ersin Tatar insists before her duties come to an end.

Tatar is currently in the Gambia for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s 15^th Islamic summit.

He spoke to the summit’s assembly on Monday evening, telling other dignitaries that “rapid and concrete steps will be taken to end the isolation imposed on the Turkish Cypriot people.”

To this end, he said he is “ready to work on a roadmap” with the OIC’s secretary-general Hissein Brahim Taha and OIC member states “to increase the cooperation between the TRNC and the OIC.”

These steps, he said, should include the participation of Turkish Cypriot athletes at the Islamic Solidarity Games and for OIC member states’ border authorities to accept and recognise passports issued by the north’s authorities.

Speaking on the Cyprus problem, he said, “the Turkish Cypriot side has now put forward a new vision by withdrawing our consent for a compromise on a federal basis.”

“On the island of Cyprus, there are two separate states and two separate peoples. A sustainable compromise can only be reached in light of these facts,” he added, saying “it is time for the Turkish Cypriot people to take the place they deserve in the international community.”

Holguin is to remain in Cyprus until May 14, and in addition to her meetings with Christodoulides and Tatar is also expected to meet with business leaders and members of civil society.