The UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Cyprus, Jane Holl Lute, continues her consultations to see if there is any common ground to build on, a UN source has told CNA, noting that at the moment there is no common ground.
The same source noted that there is no requirement for the UNSG to hold another 5+1 informal meeting on Cyprus, adding that Lute will not recommend to him to convene another such meeting, unless she sees common ground to build on.
Lute arrives to Cyprus on June 21 in the afternoon. On June 22 she will hold early in the morning a meeting with the UNSG`s Special Representative in Cyprus, Elizabeth Spehar. Later on she will meet ,at 0930 local time, at the Presidential Palace, with the President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, and after midday with the Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, in the Turkish occupied areas.
The same source told CNA that on Wednesday Lute will have more meetings that have not been arranged yet, noting that the UNSG asked her when she visits Cyprus to not just speak to the leaders, but also to other people – politicians and the civil society – to get the full picture.
Lute will be leaving the island on June 24.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council will hold a discussion on July 21, one day after the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s illegal visit to the occupied areas of Cyprus, on the UNSG’s reports about the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and his good offices mission.
The UN source noted that the Security Council, which France will preside over in July, is expected to issue a press statement after the meeting.
The UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean Pierre Lacroix, will also visit Cyprus in June.
He will arrive to the island on June 24 and the next day he will hold separate meetings with the head of the President’s Diplomatic Office, Kyriacos Kouros, (President Anastasiades will be in Brussels for the EU Summit) and Tatar.
On June 26, Lacroix will visit the buffer zone to see the situation on the ground. He will have the opportunity to see the fenced off city of Famagusta from afar and be briefed about the situation there by UNFICYP officers.
The UN source told CNA that during his meetings Lacroix will make two points clear: that UNFICYP continues to play a very important role in Cyprus, in the absence of a solution, and needs good cooperation from both sides to maintain the status quo, and that everything that the UN peacekeeping force does on the island is impartial.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results.
A 5+1 Informal Meeting that took place in Geneva, on April 27-29, failed to find enough common ground to allow for the resumption of formal negotiations in relation to the settlement of the Cyprus problem.
UN Secretary – General, Antonio Guterres, has said that he will convene in the near future another meeting of the 5+1, the five plus the United Nations, again with the objective to move in the direction of reaching common ground to allow for formal negotiations to start.
Varosha, the fenced off section of the Turkish occupied town of Famagusta, is often described as a ‘ghost town’. UN Security Council resolution 550 (1984) considers any attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN. UN Security Council resolution 789 (1992) also urges that with a view to the implementation of resolution 550 (1984), the area at present under the control of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus be extended to include Varosha.
On October 8, 2020, the Turkish side opened part of the fenced area of Varosha, following an announcement made in Ankara on October 6. Both the UN Secretary-General and the EU expressed concern, while the UN Security Council called for the reversal of this course of action.
