The lack of steps taken towards a resumption of negotiations to solve the Cyprus problem at the enlarged meeting in Geneva earlier this week is “particularly worrying for the Turkish Cypriots”, Turkish Cypriot opposition party the CTP’s foreign relations spokesman Fikri Toros said on Thursday.

Speaking to Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, he said that such steps “are the minimum responsibility” of both the island’s communities’ leaders, President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.

“The Cypriot leaders have attempted to recover their reputations by giving a message of ‘progress’ within the ‘diplomatic showcase’ they have created with this ‘dialogue’ process initiated by [United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres,” he said.

Instead, he said, talks in Geneva should have been geared towards resuming negotiations to solve the Cyprus problem “in a result-oriented and urgent manner”.

“The structure of Cyprus talks should be to overcome the deadlock which has been going on for eight years in the negotiation process, and to continue negotiations for a solution with a timetable and a result-oriented methodology,” he added.

“If there existed an intent to progress the solution progress, the meeting’s programme would not have been limited to approximately five hours. It was not surprising that no significant consultation was held on the essence of the Cyprus problem.”

Despite this, he did say the new measures announced by Guterres at the end of the meeting, including the opening of four new crossing points between the island’s two sides, the creation of a new bicommunal technical committee on youth, and others, were positive steps.

“Our support for confidence-building measures which will be addressed and implemented within the framework of a comprehensive solution process is permanent,” he said, even if he did remark that “most of them have already been worked on”.

“In this context, it is certainly pleasing that some agreements have been reached in Geneva on confidence-building measures,” he said.

He then turned his attention back to the matter of a solution, saying, “the Turkish Cypriots’ strong will for a comprehensive solution, and integration with the international community and international law is permanent”.

“In our common homeland, Cyprus, the rotating presidency based on political equality and effective participation in all decisions with at least one favourable vote cannot be postponed any longer – it is a constitutional right. It is unjust and unacceptable for Cyprus to be represented only by the Greek Cypriots in the international arena.”

To this end, he said the next enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, scheduled to take place in July, “needs to be structured in a way which will ensure the continuation of official negotiations with a political consensus”.

He said that when the new UN representative in Cyprus, as announced by Guterres on Tuesday, is appointed, the CTP will put forward a four-part proposal “regarding the methodology during the preliminary preparations for the meeting” in July.