UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he would continue working until the final day of his term toward the resumption of talks, President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides said.
Speaking on Friday at an event of the Cypriot diaspora in New York, President Christodoulides referred to his meeting with the UN Secretary-General, during which, he said, he presented new ideas concerning the substance of the Cyprus issue, the methodology of the process and confidence-building measures that could pave the way for the resumption of negotiations. However, he noted that “the Turkish side responded negatively.”
He also said that the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council had provided assurances that the body of agreements reached through previous negotiations, as well as the agreed basis for a settlement of the Cyprus issue, would not change.
“We came to New York and had an excellent meeting with the UN Secretary-General. We presented new ideas concerning the substance, the methodology and confidence-building measures and ideas that once again demonstrated in practice our political will and which were positively received by the Secretary-General. These ideas could have opened the way for the resumption of negotiations,” President Christodoulides said.
“Unfortunately,” he continued, “the Turkish side responded negatively,” adding that it was “in a weakened position, because this is what happens when someone refuses even a simple meeting aimed at exploring the prospects on the basis of new ideas that were positively received by the UN Secretary-General.”
President Christodoulides referred to two “very important developments.” The first, he said, was that the UN Secretary-General “told us that until the final day of his term, he will continue working toward concrete progress in the direction of resuming the talks, and we believe him,” reiter
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