President: Common ground for resumption of talks is determined by UN resolutions

President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides said that the common ground for the resumption of the peace talks for the solution of the Cyprus issue is determined by the UN resolutions and noted that he reiterated his readiness to the Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, for negotiations.

The two leaders, along with their spouses, attended a reception, hosted by the Special Representative of the UNSG Colin Stewart, at Ledra Palace, in Nicosia buffer zone on the evening of 11 December.

Speaking to the press upon departing the reception, President Christodoulides said that the announcement by theSpecial Representative that the UN Secretary-General will soon announce the appointment of an envoy for the Cyprus issue is important.

He said that the night's gathering was a social one, expressing the hope that the official announcement of an envoy will be made this week. The President added that there is hope that the envoy will visit the island as soon as possible.

He expressed once again the readiness of the Greek Cypriot side, pointing out that we know very well what we want at the negotiating table and what the end goal is. “And we will do everything possible from our side to achieve the end goal”, he went on to say.

The President said that the difficulties and problems are there and that he follows the daily statements that are being made.

He pointed out that everything will be decided at the negotiating table.

Replying to a question he said that they definitely discussed the Cyprus issue with Tatar during a brief tete-a-tete meeting tonight, but clarified that no negotiation took place.

He noted that he reiterated to Tatar his readiness, and his hope that he will come to the negotiating table "to achieve what we want" which, he said, is the resumption of the talks.

“The common ground is there, it is determined by the UN resolutions themselves and I hope we can get the talks going again as soon as possible”, he noted.

He said that there are no frozen conflicts, as we see from what is going on in our region right now. President Christodoulides said that the status quo, the passage of time creates a new fait accompli. He went on to say that we see the problems that arise every day in the buffer zone and we will do everything possible for the reunification, on the basis of the agreed framework.

The last time the two leaders met was last July during a visit at the CMP laboratory. On the evening of 11 December they were accompanied by their spouses.

Members of the technical committees, leaders and member of political parties from both sides, Ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps, former MPs, representatives of the religious groups etc were among the guests of the event to mark the end of the year. 

Cyprus has been divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion. The latest round of talks under the UN aegis took place in the summer of 2017 in the Swiss resort of Crans Montana but ended inconclusively.

(Source: CNA)