President briefs high commissioner on NY meeting

President Nicos Anastasiades on Monday briefed UK High Commissioner Stephen Lillie about his meeting in New York with the UN secretary general and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.

According to government spokesman Marios Pelekanos, the meeting took place at the Presidential Palace following a request by Lillie for a briefing.

The high commissioner was escorted by Director for Cyprus Affairs at the UK Foreign Office Ajay Sharma.

During the meeting, Anastasiades briefed the two officials on his meeting in New York last month with Tatar and the UN secretary-general, Pelekanos said, “during which the secretary-general announced to the two leaders his intention to proceed with the appointment of a special envoy.

“They also discussed the current situation on the Cyprus issue and Turkey’s unacceptable actions and exchanged views on what the next steps could be that would allow, the soonest possible, conditions for the resumption of a truly creative dialogue that would lead to a solution to the Cyprus problem, based on Security Council resolutions and within the UN framework,” Pelekanos said.

Lillie last month suggested efforts should focus on an agreement on a decentralised federation, an idea Anastasiades himself had pitched in the past. The high commissioner had said in an interview with daily Kathimerini the idea on a highly decentralised federation deserved further discussion as it would allow the two communities a high degree of autonomy in terms of their day-to-day affairs, while it would preserve Cyprus as a single, internationally recognised sovereign state.

He also refuted accusations the UK supported a two-state solution, arguing that the informal ideas they discussed with the sides fall firmly within the agreed UN framework for a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality.