Government Spokesman Stephanos Stephanou has urged Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu not to be in a hurry for the convening of a four-party or five-party international conference on the Cyprus problem but to proceed to the negotiating table in the same constructive way as Cyprus President Demetris Christofias.

Stephanou recalled that an international conference on the Cyprus problem will be convened for the settlement of the international aspects of the problem, once the two parties are very close to an agreement on the internal aspects of the problem.

Asked if UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon told the two leaders during their meeting last week in New York, in his presence, that the meeting in January in New York will be the last time that he will offer his good offices mission, Stephanou replied negatively, noting that the UN Secretary General’s good offices are provided on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions and the SG reports to the Security Council.

Invited to comment on a statement by Eroglu that the issue of territory will be discussed once a four-party or five-party conference is convened, Stephanou said that “the international conference will be convened for the settlement of the international aspects of the Cyprus problem, as the SG himself has said, and the international conference will convene once we are close to an agreement on issues regarding internal aspects of the Cyprus problem.”