Government spokesman seeks tangible progress ahead of Cyprus leaders’ meeting

Nicosia, Cyprus. Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Thursday that he hoped for “tangible steps” on the Cyprus problem “in the immediate future”, ahead of Tuesday’s meeting between President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman.

Discussion on next steps

Letymbiotis said he expected Tuesday’s meeting to involve a “thorough discussion on the next steps”, stressing that “if we mean it, there must be tangible steps of progress in the immediate future”.

He said the 19 new points submitted by Christodoulides at the leaders’ most recent meeting were intended to assist efforts to resume substantive negotiations on the Cyprus problem “as much as possible”.

According to Letymbiotis, the proposals addressed all three pillars set out by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: confidence-building measures, the methodology of an enlarged meeting and the substance of the talks. During his visit to Cyprus in July, Guterres said an enlarged meeting would be convened only “after adequate progress” on those areas.

Differences over the proposals

Erhurman had described the 19 points as “throwing a spanner in the works”, adding: “In that case, let’s bin off the seven points and have 19 points this time, and then I will bring 29 points at the next meeting”.

Responding on Thursday, Letymbiotis said: “I do not think that rejection without discussion is a step forward”.

“We continue to believe that a joint meeting in the presence of the UN secretary-general would be extremely helpful, and such a meeting is always helpful,” he said.

Erhurman had said such a meeting should take place only “if there is a chance of reaching an agreement” on at least one confidence-building measure.

European Commission response and international events

On relations with the European Union, Letymbiotis said: “The EU and the Republic of Cyprus are one and the same”.

He also addressed the European Commission’s response to a letter from Erhurman raising concerns about Greek Cypriot initiatives to secure the cancellation of international events organised by Turkish Cypriots. Letymbiotis said “the letter was not quoted in its entirety” in Erhurman’s announcement of the response.

Defending those initiatives, he said: “Everything we do and everything we must do as a sovereign state is in the context of defending the obvious issues which concern a semi-occupied homeland”.