House president Annita Demetriou on Wednesday said that the progress which had been hoped for prior to last week’s United Nations “high-level week” in New York has not been made, as she spoke after the day’s National Council meeting.

“We do not have the result we would have wanted after the United Nations general assembly. Despite all of that, we are obliged to insist on the substance, aiming for real progress and remaining far away from any expediency,” she said.

She then made reference to the forthcoming visit to the island of UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin and a planned “upcoming meeting” of the European Commission’s Cyprus problem envoy Raffaele Fitto with other European Union officials regarding the “parallel discussion which relates to relations between Europe and Turkey”.

Those meetings, she said, constitute an “important step” which “must be utilised through parallel diplomatic activity”.

“The highest duty for all of us is for there to be less talk and more work, and to take advantage of every opportunity which can bring us closer to the desired goal. Disy’s responsibility in this regard, I assure you, is a given,” she said. 

Last week ended with Cyprus’ two sides arguably further apart than they started it, leading Holguin to warn on Monday that “it is clear that the favourable window of opportunity we had throughout last year and earlier this year is gradually closing”.

She also warned that “rising tensions in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean could have negative consequences for Cyprus”, and that “the diplomatic space which is allowing for the revival of dialogue may not remain open for ever”.

Leaders offered conflicting accounts of New York week

Regarding her meetings with both President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman last week and conflicting statements regarding the prospect of a tripartite meeting of the two leaders and the UN last week, Holguin stressed that “such a meeting was not planned beforehand”.

Instead, she said, she had informed Erhurman that Christodoulides wished for such a meeting to take place, and Erhurman had asked, “is there a new proposal which would make such a meeting meaningful?”

She said that in response, she had told Erhurman that “Christodoulides had reiterated the proposals he had presented during the most recent bilateral meeting between the leaders in Cyprus”, and that Erhurman as such declined to hold a meeting in New York.

Erhurman, she said, had found that “the meeting would not yield a positive result unless the necessary conditions for progress were met”.

This version of events was largely corroborated by Erhurman, who made reference to the seven issues upon which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had demanded progress when he visited the island in July.

“If there is a chance of reaching an agreement on a few of them, and if the secretary-general has time, I would participate in such a meeting. There was no reply to this message,” he said on Monday.

Menelaou accuses Turkish Cypriots of ‘pattern of obstruction’

The Greek Cypriot side, however, offered a different version of events, with Christodoulides on Tuesday accusing Erhurman of “insisting on a two-state solution”, and his chief negotiator Menelaos Menelaou saying that the Turkish Cypriot side had followed a “pattern of obstruction” and employed “delaying tactics”.

Another issue which came to light in New York was a letter sent by the Republic of Cyprus’ permanent mission at the UN requesting that foreign diplomats not meet Turkish Cypriots.

Holguin said of the letter that such moves “absolutely” do not help efforts to create favourable conditions for negotiations to resume in earnest.

“These things only complicate an already complex issue. Negotiations do not arise spontaneously, nor do they stem from a hostile environment. The process requires understanding and accepting the other side and its existence,” she said.