After more than a year of stalemate, the Cyprus problem is entering a period of rapid developments, which will probably determine the fate of the people and the country in the foreseeable future. September will decide a lot, either in a positive or a negative direction.

The Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General Mrs. Lute will soon conclude her contacts and by the middle of this month she will submit her Report to the Secretary-General. The content of her Report, but also the meetings of the UN Secretary-General with the two leaders immediately afterwards, will also decide the content of the Report Mr. Guterres will submit to the UN Security Council by the 15^th October. That is precisely where whether the UN Secretary-Secretary will take a new initiative or whether he will make the assessment that the conditions do not permit such an undertaking will be judged conclusively.

We want to believe that President Anastasiades realizes the critical nature of the moment and that he will demonstrate a willingness to continue the talks in the way the UN Secretary-General is proposing. Of course, everything will be judged by what Mrs. Lute has already heard from both leaders and Turkey, as well as from their upcoming meetings with Mr. Guterres himself.

The times we are going through are critical and there will be a deluge of impending developments. We hope that Mr. Anastasiades will be able to rise to the occasion and take on his share of responsibility with the hope that the other side will act in a positive way. If this is indeed the case, the strategic consensus sought by the Secretary-General on the six core issues will be feasible, given that at Crans Montana we came very close to their solution. Such a development would, in turn, greatly facilitate the effort to resolve the remaining outstanding issues. If, however, the UN Secretary-General concludes that the preconditions for a resumption of the negotiation procedure are not met, then the solution of the Cyprus problem as we are seeking it for decades will become much more difficult and the nightmare of the definitive partition more real than ever before.

Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 4 September 2018, Nicosia