Nicosia, Cyprus. President Nikos Christodoulides brought a five-point plan to a trilateral meeting on Wednesday with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman and UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin, aimed at restarting substantive negotiations on the Cyprus problem while advancing confidence-building measures.
Meeting setting and participants
The meeting began at around 11.15am at the residence of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Cyprus Khassim Diagne, located in the buffer zone near the old Nicosia airport.
Christodoulides was accompanied by negotiator Menelaos Menelaou, while Erhurman brought his undersecretary Mehmet Dana. Both leaders were received by Holguin and Diagne, who departed once the meeting commenced.
Christodoulides’ proposal and conditions for talks
Speaking before departing the Presidential palace, Christodoulides said his proposal addresses the core of the Cyprus issue while also incorporating confidence-building measures. He said that if there is political will and the proposal is accepted, substantive talks can resume from where they were interrupted in Crans Montana.
Christodoulides said the proposal responds fully to the four methodological points raised by Erhurman as preconditions for talks, adding that these had been answered “from the very beginning”.
Position on negotiations and prior convergences
On the substance of negotiations, Christodoulides reiterated the Republic’s position that talks should resume from the point they left off, preserving the convergences already achieved. He said that if these convergences are accepted, 70 to 80 per cent of the Cyprus problem is resolved, and argued that this also addresses questions over timetables.
He questioned the feasibility of discussing timelines if talks restart from scratch.
Predetermined consequences and political equality
Christodoulides rejected the notion of predetermined consequences, saying such an approach is not accepted by the international community, and referred to United Nations resolutions that remain unimplemented.
On political equality, he said the matter had been settled following the written joint statement issued after the leaders’ previous meeting.
What do you think would be needed for the talks to resume from where they left off in Crans Montana?
