The President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, said that progress on certain Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) will be announced after his next meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman expected to take place by the end of April.
In statements after his meeting on Monday, 6 April with Erhürman, the President of the Republic said that they had a good meeting and that they discussed substantive issues at length, “all the points my Secretary-General highlighted during our meeting in Brussels—the political will to see concrete developments.”
“He has a plan in mind, which he has begun to work on, aiming at its implementation. We welcome this decision by the Secretary-General and hope to have positive results,” he noted.
He added that the two leaders exchanged views on confidence-building measures—all the issues that have been discussed from time to time—and that they asked their negotiators to finalise whatever can be finalised.
“There is progress, I must mention, on some of these issues, and there will be a meeting around the end of April,” he added.
Asked when developments by the Secretary-General are expected, President Christodoulides said that António Guterres has already begun working behind the scenes, “so that we can achieve a significant, the most important goal, which is why all these meetings are taking place, namely the resumption of talks.”
Asked whether there would be consultations with both sides regarding a document the Secretary-General will put on the table to launch negotiations, or whether he would prepare it by himself, the President of the Republic said that he has not spoken about a document that will be drafted by the Secretary-General.
“The Secretary-General is in contact with all sides, both in Cyprus and abroad, with the aim of resuming the talks. And this willingness on the part of the Secretary-General is something we welcome; it was something we sought, and I am pleased that this specific reference is included today following our mutual agreement in the UN statement,” he said.
Asked about the issues on which progress has been made regarding confidence-building measures, President Christodoulides said that the two leaders have agreed not to publicly specify which ones.
“There is progress on some, not all, but on some of the issues that have been raised from time to time—those we proposed and those proposed by the Turkish Cypriot side. Progress has been made, and we have given instructions to the negotiators so that at the next meeting we can announce, in more specific terms, the outcome on some of them,” he concluded.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
(Source: CNA)
