United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin on Tuesday lamented that “not much progress” had been achieved on confidence-building measures between the island’s two sides since her previous visit to the island.

Speaking after a meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides, she said she is hoping to “push for more progress” on the issue of confidence-building measures, with a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman set to take place later in the day.

“I will see Mr Erhurman this afternoon and I hope there will be progress. Until now, there has not been much progress,” she said.

She then said that during her planned tripartite meeting with Erhurman and Christodoulides on Wednesday, she hopes to “talk about the methodology, the four points that Erhurman put on the table a few months ago”.

“That is the issue of tomorrow, and I hope there will be progress,” she said, before adding that it would be “very difficult” to organise an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem if more progress is not achieved during Tuesday and Wednesday’s meetings.

Asked if it would still be possible to hold another enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem involving the UN, the island’s two sides, and its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom next month, she said that such an eventuality “depends on the progress of the two leaders on the confidence-building measures”.

Erhurman’s four points, sometimes referred to as “preconditions” – a term he resents – foresee that the Greek Cypriot side accept political equality, time-limit negotiations, and preserve all past agreements, and that the UN guarantee that embargoes placed on the Turkish Cypriots be lifted if the Greek Cypriot side leaves the negotiating table again.

More to follow…