The Greek Cypriot side is “ready” for there to be “tangible steps” forward in relations between the European Union and Turkey should negotiations recommence in earnest following the next enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Thursday.

“If, and as long as we see substantial progress on the Cyprus issue, the convening of an informal multilateral meeting with an emphasis on the substance … which will lead to the resumption of substantive negotiations, with the ultimate goal, of course, being the definitive resolution of the Cyprus issue, then yes, we are ready,” he said.

To this end, he said that “the convening of a multilateral meeting is not an end in itself, simply for the sake of convening a multilateral meeting”.

He confirmed that President Nikos Christodoulides had held telephone calls with both European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after they had met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday night.

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On this front, he said that “it is now known, and this is evident from the statements made by the Turkish officials themselves, the interest which Turkey is showing in relations between the European Union and Turkey”.

“The position which has been clearly communicated by the European Commission and by the European Council is that the issues which concern and interest Turkey, and which Turkey wishes to see progress in its relations with the European Union, are directly related to progress on the Cyprus issue,” he said.

He added that “Turkey’s Cyprus-related obligations are European obligations, and in order for there to be progress on these issues which Turkey raises, Turkey’s constructive will, its decisive will for progress on the Cyprus issue, must be demonstrated”.

“This is the position of the European Union, this is the position we are communicating, this is the position which the 27 member states and, of course, the institutions of the European Union have ratified and supported from the very beginning,” he said.

Asked about the response given by the Turkish government in this regard, he said that “what has been understood is that this contact … will continue at all levels”.

“It seems that Turkey is interested in making progress … but I think that through the clarity of messages of last week’s meeting involving [EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas] and the two commissioners, but much more from [Costa] and [von der Leyen], the European Council conclusions, and the joint letter, this message has now become clear, with absolute clarity,” he said.

Now, he said, “what is also important is the close support and cooperation between the European Union and the Unted Nations”.

He said that Costa and von der Leyen have “made clear the support and the willingness, the intention of the European Union to assist” in efforts being undertaken by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“We have seen this from the joint statement they issued this morning, but also from [Guterres] and his personal envoy [Maria Angela Holguin] for the importance they attach to the role which the European Union can play,” he said.

Then asked whether Turkey’s support for Guterres’ “new initiative” to bring about a resumption of talks on the Cyprus problem was “reaffirmed”, he said that this was “recorded in the joint statement” issued by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and three members of the EU’s college of commissioners last week.

“However, this should be made clear in practice. The rhetorical position should be translated into substantive intent, and this will be demonstrated through the convening of an informal multilateral meeting. We have said it before, the one who is expected to bend its own intransigence is Turkey,” he said.

The next enlarged meeting is expected to take place next month, and will involve the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN.

In advance of this, Holguin has embarked on a round of contacts with stakeholders both in Cyprus and abroad. Her next meeting will be with Antonio Costa on Monday.