A joint meeting between Nikos Christodoulides and Tufan Erhürman is taking place on Wednesday at 11am, at the residence of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Cyprus, within the UN-controlled area.
The meeting is attended by the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, María Ángela Holguín, and forms part of her visit to Cyprus from January 26 to 29. On Tuesday, Ms Holguín held separate meetings with both leaders on Tuesday.
Focus on methodology and confidence-building measures
Today’s joint meeting aims to address existing differences through a discussion on methodology, including four specific points raised in recent months by the Turkish Cypriot leader.
Speaking on Tuesday after her meeting with President Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace, Ms Holguín said that progress so far had been insufficient. She warned that without tangible movement on confidence-building measures, it would be very difficult to convene an expanded meeting on the Cyprus issue.
She explained that Wednesday’s discussion would centre on methodology and expressed hope that progress could be achieved. Without such progress, she said, organising a 5+1 meeting would be extremely challenging.
Asked whether such a meeting could still take place next month, Ms Holguín replied that this would depend entirely on progress made by the two leaders on confidence-building measures.
Government stresses political will and substance
From the government side, spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Tuesday that the meeting must clearly demonstrate genuine political will to restart negotiations on the Cyprus problem. He described it as a substantive opportunity in that direction.
Following President Christodoulides’ meeting with Ms Holguín, Mr Letymbiotis said the President had been briefed on the envoy’s contacts since her previous visit to Cyprus in December. He added that the President outlined his approach to the resumption of negotiations, stressing the need to preserve and build on the achievements of the previous negotiating process.
According to the spokesman, the same approach will be presented at the joint meeting with Mr Erhürman, with President Christodoulides expected to submit a specific proposal on how talks could restart.
Confidence-building measures will also be discussed. Mr Letymbiotis noted that while progress on such measures is desirable, they cannot replace substantive negotiations on the core issues of the Cyprus problem.