The trilateral meeting of the UNSG Antonio Guterres, Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar that will take place in New York on October 15th, the Cyprus negotiations’ acquis and what happened during the latest round of talks in Crans-Montana in 2017 as well as the expectations for the way forward, were discussed on Friday during the 5th Cyprus Forum in Nicosia.
Speakers included Greek Cypriot negotiator Menelaos Menelaou and former negotiators Andreas Mavroyiannis of the Greek Cypriot side and Ozdil Nami of the Turkish Cypriot side.
Menelaou said that our side wants the resumption of the talks and the effort should not lead to a blame game but to the substance. He recalled that the government set the goal of the resumption of the talks since it assumed office and that the efforts led to the appointment of the SG’s Personal Envoy Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar. We need to remain persistent, he added
Menelaou also noted that in view of the dinner it is better to do more and speak less.
As regards the past effort in Crans-Montana he said that he really appreciates what has been accomplished but sad for not having results.
“My view is that we need to uphold the fundamental and the historic compromise and to establish a unified Cyprus based on a bizonal bicommunal federation,” he said, noting that anything deviating from that cannot contribute positively to the process.
He said that the situation in our region makes it even more imperative to create the conditions to solve the Cyprus problem.
Andreas Mavroyiannis said that in Crans-Montana we were all involved in a constructive way but unfortunately we could not cover the distance. He also noted that we cannot spend years talking about what happened but we need to negotiate again in trust and confidence.
According to Mavroyiannis, the fundamentals of the Cyprus problem never change no matter what is happening in the region. He added that the international community and the EU are always there and ready to support something that needs to start here and cannot be the ‘ex machina’.
Referring to the dinner in New York he expressed the opinion that President Christodoulides wants to discuss the current state of play and ways forward but Tatar says otherwise, noting that the UNSG will try to get everyone to agree that this is not the end and that his Personal Envoy’s mission will continue.
Ozdil Nami hoped that the leaders will take the fresh opportunity seriously. Speaking about Crans-Montana he said that there was an extremely good team work and felt like they were working as a Cypriot team and that spirit led to convergences.
He said that we all agree that we need to end the status quo because it is not sustainable, adding that this is a good starting point, but we also need to agree on the basic guidelines and parameters to end the status quo in a reasonable time frame.
Nami said that we need to resume the talks for a bizonal, bicommunal federation, adding that the Turkish Cypriot community needs a new leadership with a firm vision on the bizonal, bicommunal federation.
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. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
The UNSG appointed Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar as his personal envoy last January to explore the ground for a possible resumption of the peace talks.
Source: Parikiaki.com
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