Nicosia, Cyprus. United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin on Friday outlined the next steps in her efforts on the Cyprus problem after meeting Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman. She said she would hold further meetings in Cyprus, Turkey, Greece and Brussels before returning to the island later this month.
Planned diplomatic contacts
Holguin said she would meet President Nikos Christodoulides on Friday afternoon before travelling next week to Ankara and Athens to meet Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis.
She said she would then travel to Brussels for contacts with European Union officials and others before returning to Cyprus before the end of the month for further meetings with Erhurman and Christodoulides.
Timing for enlarged meeting
Holguin also said it is currently intended that an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem be convened either in late July or early August.
The meeting is expected to involve the island’s two sides, the three guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the United Nations.
Discussion topics and recent meetings
Erhurman’s office said he and Holguin discussed the Cyprus issue, confidence-building measures and regional developments.
Holguin had most recently met both Erhurman and Christodoulides on Monday, and said after those meetings that she was “quite positive and optimistic”.
Leaders seek concrete outcome
Both leaders have said they want the next enlarged meeting to produce tangible results.
After his meeting with Holguin, Christodoulides said “the goal is to lead us into an enlarged meeting, during which the resumption of talks will be announced”.
Erhurman did not make statements after his meeting with Holguin, but said during an appearance on political talk show Er Meydani on Tuesday that an enlarged meeting must “yield meaningful results”.
Report on Turkey’s position
The meetings come as sources told the Cyprus Mail that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has green-lit the “new initiative” being undertaken by the UN to help bring about a resumption of formal negotiations on the Cyprus problem.
According to the report, Erdogan believes the lack of a solution to the Cyprus problem has “unduly cost Turkey through no fault of its own” in recent decades.