UN Personal Envoy María Ángela Holguín has hit the ground running following her arrival in Cyprus, engaging in intensive shuttle diplomacy between the sides, while Ankara has also joined the dialogue with its own messages.
Holguín ruffled a few feathers yesterday when she met with Ankara’s representative in the north Ali Murat Başçeri at the Turkish ‘embassy’, which posted news and photos of the meeting on its social media account.
Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said that while the envoy apparently attended a meeting in the north on request by the Turkish side to convey a message, “in any case, it was an action that we consider unacceptable and an unfortunate moment”.
Asked about the message from Ankara, Letymbiotis said it was such that it allowed Holguín to continue her contacts yesterday and today and with next week’s trilateral meeting in mind. He also expressed optimism about the prospects for progress.
Message from Deputy FM
According to sources, Holguín received a message from Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Mehmet Kemal Bozay, conveyed by the Turkish ‘ambassador’ in the north. Bozay is one of five deputy foreign ministers in Turkey and also serves as Director for EU Affairs.
Sources told Politis that Bozay was initially meant to meet the UN envoy in person but ended up conveying his message through the top Turkish diplomat in the north. While the government condemned the decision to visit the ‘embassy’ in violation of Paragraph 2 of UN Security Council Resolution 550 (1984), the fact Ankara was engaging directly in the process was viewed more positively.
Whatever the two leaders are trying to close the gap on in Cyprus, Ankara’s position will play a decisive role on the outcome.
Sources said the sides are close to achieving progress and need that extra leap of faith to move towards a broader meeting that can kickstart negotiations. An agreement on crossing points would also show Ankara’s intention to move forward, said a source.
Specific question posed to President
Holguín also met with DISY leader Annita Demetriou yesterday before meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides for a second time, following their meeting last Friday, to ask him a “small, specific question”.
Speaking to reporters after the 25-minute meeting, the UN envoy said she preferred to ask the question in person rather than by phone. Holguín said she was still optimistic. Asked about the prospect of new crossing points, the former Colombian foreign minister said she would meet again with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman today, following their meeting on Monday. She added: “I hope we can have good news.”
According to Turkish Cypriot sources, the envoy’s meeting with Erhürman will take place at 12.30pm with the issue of crossing points on the agenda.
‘We’ll know more in a few hours’
Speaking to reporters, President Christodoulides said let diplomacy do its job and in the coming hours, it will become clearer whether there will be positive developments, not only on crossing points and confidence-building measures (CBMs), but also methodology and substance.
Intensive shuttle diplomacy
Since her arrival last Thursday evening, Holguín has met Christodoulides twice, Erhürman once, the leaders of AKEL and DISY, all five ambassadors of the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council (P5), and the top Turkish diplomat in the north. She plans to meet separately with the mayors of occupied Famagusta and Morphou this Saturday. On Monday, the envoy will meet with the mayors of both sides of the divided capital to hear their joint proposal for preserving and restoring Nicosia’s endangered buildings in the buffer zone.
However, the ultimate test will be Holguín’s trilateral meeting with the two leaders on Monday. If all goes well, the sides should be able to reach agreement on certain issues pertaining to CBMs, methodology and substance.
On CBMs, the big effort is on crossing points, though other measures cannot be ruled out. Greek Cypriot sources have previously told Politis that an agreement on crossing points would likely be enough to convince Guterres to convene a 5+1 with the guarantor powers, taking into consideration the significant discussions undertaken by the two sides on methodology and substance.
Monday’s meeting is considered critical not only to the success or failure of Holguín’s latest and most probably last visit to Cyprus, but also to the final effort by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to get the ball rolling on the Cyprus issue before he leaves office at December’s end.
