Meetings are picking up from Tuesday on the Cyprus problem beginning with a new round of discussions between UN envoy Jane Holl Lute and President Nicos Anastasiades on Tuesday.
The President is also scheduled to have a meeting with UNSG Antonio Guterres later this week during which he will underline that efforts should concentrate within the framework of the agreed UN resolutions.
Lute arrives on Monday afternoon in Cyprus and early the next day she will hold a meeting with the UNSG`s Special Representative in Cyprus, Elizabeth Spehar. At 0930 local time, she will be received by resident Anastasiades at the Presidential Palace. After midday she will meet Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, in the Turkish occupied areas.
As CNA reported on Friday, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Cyprus, 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.
President Anastasiades will meet Guterres on Friday on the sidelines of the European Council summit held 24-25 June, which Guterres has been invited to attend. This is the first meeting between Anastasiades and Guterres since the 5+1 informal meeting on Cyprus that took place in Geneva at the end of April.
They are expected to discuss the current situation as regards the Cyprus problem and the prospects of convening a new informal meeting on Cyprus, given the Turkish position in favour of a two-state solution and the moves of the Turkish side in the fenced off city of Famagusta.
President Anastasiades told reporters on Thursday that during his meeting with Guterres, he will convey the readiness of the Greek Cypriot side to participate in a new dialogue, based on the UN resolutions, the 2014 joint statement and the convergences achieved so far in the Cyprus talks.
Replying to a question as to what he will tell the UNSG during the meeting, the President said that he will tell him that everything should move within the framework of the UN resolutions and his mandate.
Regarding the EU decisions on Turkey in the forthcoming EU Council and his statement last Thursday that the EU must be clear that there will be a response in the event of a continued Turkish provocations, President Anastasiades said that this is an obligation of the EU towards a member state.
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.
