The “substance” of the Cyprus problem was discussed on Wednesday for the first time since negotiations collapsed in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana in 2017, President Nikos Christodoulides said after returning to the presidential palace from a tripartite meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman.

“The important thing is that the substance of the Cyprus problem was discussed, I would dare say, for the first time since Crans-Montana. Specific issues, convergences. That is why the secretary-general also referred to Crans-Montana. That is where the essence of the discussion was focused,” he said.

He said he has taken “three things” from his meetings with Guterres this week, “starting with the fact that, because this is the great substance, that the secretary-general is absolutely committed and is working in this direction, from the resolutions of the UN security council”.

In this, he was referring to the security council resolutions which stipulate that a solution to the Cyprus problem must be brought about on the basis of a federal solution, with this apparent convergence coming as a departure from Turkey’s advocacy for a two-state solution between the collapse of talks at Crans-Montana and Erhurman’s election last year.

The second point, he said, is that he said that Guterres is also committed to preserving the convergences reached in the run-up to the conference at Crans-Montana.

Lastly, he said, he wished to “welcome the fact that everyone … has positively responded to the convening of a large conference which, of course, and we fully agree with the UN secretary-general, must be successful”.

To this end, he said that the Greek Cypriot side is “continuing in cooperation” with UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin and the European Union, before saying that the EU was “mentioned in our meetings and today”.

This, he said, is “so that the ground can be prepared by going to this enlarged meeting to have a positive announcement for the resumption of talks from where they were interrupted at Crans-Montana”.

He went on to say that some things have been “clarified” this week and that this “gives us optimism”, saying that the first thing to be clarified is the “utilisation of the convergences reached”, and that this was “under question” last year.

The EU’s role, too, he said, has been clarified. He said that this is “something we have sought” since he was sworn in in 2023, and that “we currently see the EU’s willingness and readiness to play this role in two directions”.

“One is in relation to the substance of the negotiations, that is, those issues on which there is no convergence and which should be resolved,” he said, before saying that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “set up a legal group” to support her Cyprus problem envoy Raffaele Fitto to this end.

The second matter, he said, is the placement of progress in Cyprus at the heart of developments in relations between the EU and Turkey. This, he said, is something “we have heard from Turkish lips which are interested in seeing positive developments in relations between Europe and Turkey”.

Christodoulides added that Fitto will arrive on the island on Thursday night before holding meetings with both Erhurman and himself on Friday, as part of efforts to “create the conditions to have this enlarged meeting, in which basically the only subject of discussions will be to announce the resumption of negotiations”.

“The preparatory work will be done before the date of setting the enlarged meeting,” he said, before stressing that Guterres’ announcement had been “positive”.

On this front, he stressed that “the fact that everyone has accepted the convening of an enlarged meeting was not a given before the secretary-general arrived”.

“At the same time, we have this clarification in relation to the convergences reached in the talks. We are not starting from scratch. The convergences are being utilised. It is very important, and this more positive response which exists – something which did not exist before – has a relation to the role that the EU can play,” he said.

He added that “if you are asking me if the results could have been even better, of course they could have”, and said that “I would have liked even better results and I was ready for such better results, such as, for example, that we are starting an enlarged meeting in a week”.

“We were ready for that, and I conveyed that to the secretary-general, but I believe that the secretary-general’s presence here, what has emerged through his presence here, are matters which build in the direction I mentioned,” he said.

Asked if he was “troubled” by Guterres’ reference to the “methodology” of the negotiations, he answered in the negative, and said that “the methodology concerns the convergences, and it is very important, this issue, to know from where the negotiations start”.

He added that the matter of convergences also “refers to all four points which Erhurman had first mentioned when he assumed the Turkish Cypriot leadership”.

“For the methodology, it is important that we decide, and we all have the same reading of where the negotiations start, and that is why I referred to the convergences and the importance of them,” he said.

He went on to say of confidence-building measures that should one be agreed upon and implemented, “that would certainly be a positive development”, but stressed that “it is not a prerequisite” for an enlarged meeting to be convened.

Then asked whether Turkey and Erhurman have agreed to the resumption of talks, he said that “I want to believe that there is a positive response”, but stressed that he “cannot speak on Turkey’s behalf”.