A new initiative to be undertaken by the United Nations with the aim of bringing about progress towards a solution to the Cyprus problem has “already begun”, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Tuesday.

He said Christodoulides had “made public this initiative”, which he said has been initiated by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, when Christodoulides and Guterres met in Brussels last month.

“Our side is ready, even tomorrow if it is necessary, to participate in an enlarged meeting, to resume negotiations from the point at which they were interrupted, in accordance with the resolutions of the [UN] security council,” he said.

Questions regarding a potential new initiative had come about after Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman had made reference to the possibility in a social media post on Sunday, writing that such an initiative will begin in July, following the conclusion of Cyprus’ six-month term as the holder of the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency.

Earlier, Erhurman had expressed reservations regarding the prospect of an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, which would involve the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the UN, and criticised Christodoulides’ insistence on the matter.

“I want to emphasise this. What they actually understand by an enlarged meeting is this, I am sorry, but the Greek Cypriot leadership has always tried to address the Republic of Turkey, not the Turkish Cypriot side. This is being repeated,” he said.

He said that he would rather discuss matters directly with the Greek Cypriot side.

“What I said was, ‘let us meet face-to-face in Nicosia, and let us both make decisions on confidence-building measures which will make life easier for both the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot people,” he said.

Christodoulides had said after his meeting with Guterres last month that “we must expect developments soon” on the Cyprus problem, and reported that Guterres “has the same view as us regarding the need for there to be substantive progress before the completion of his term in office”, which will expire at the end of this year.

Erhurman had met Guterres a month prior, and stressed that with regard to talks aimed at resolving the Cyprus problem, “this time it must be different”. 

“I shared with the secretary-general face to face my view that, especially in light of previous experiences and the disappointments suffered by Turkish Cypriots, what is important to me is not that the meetings are for the sake of meetings, but that this time, they are for the sake of reaching a solution,” he said after last month’s meeting. 

To this end, he said he “had the opportunity to share with him that we have developed our four-point proposal, based on his own frequently used phrase, ‘this time it must be different’”. 

Those four points, sometimes referred to as “preconditions” – a term Erhurman 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.