Christodoulides to Attend UN Dinner ‘in a Position of Strength’

“The president comes to the meeting in a position of strength, precisely because this positive development is recognised, the result of our own longstanding positions, and the result of taking initiatives on the part of the Republic of Cyprus,” Letymbiotis said after the morning’s National Council meeting.

He added that the meeting had also come about as a result of the Greek Cypriot side’s “persistence, consistency, and continuity”. 

“We come to this meeting in a constructive mood, with sincere political will, always looking to work within the agreed framework with the aim of resuming negotiations from the point at which they were left off [at Crans-Montana in 2017],” he said.

“We hope that the same sincere political will exists on the other side and that this joint meeting will be the springboard for the resumption of negotiations.”

When asked whether it has been ensured that the meeting in New York will be held within the framework of aims for a bizonal, bicommunal federation, he said, that Guterres, “the convener of this meeting, his terms of reference derive from the UN Security Council’s resolutions, which clearly and every time repeat this framework.”

He added that the validity of this framework had been “repeated to us by all five Security Council permanent members at the lunch hosted by [Christodoulides] during his stay in New York.”

Returning to the matter of the meeting itself, he said, “this joint meeting, I remind you, was our effort from the first moment. It was something we pursued and it is something we are still pursuing.

“We believe that dialogue is the first step, and it is dialogue that we seek, that we desire. We desire it precisely because we have absolute confidence in the correctness of our positions, but also in the benefits which can arise from a solution to the Cyprus problem.”

House president and Disy leader Annita Demetriou also spoke after the meeting, and was keen to stress the need for a solution to the Cyprus problem to be found as soon as possible.

“We cannot afford to wait another five or seven years to look for a solution, because it will be too late. In a fluid scene which is being rapidly rearranged such as today’s world, we must define our own future,” she said.

She added that she is under “no illusions” regarding the difficulties to be faced, but said, “regardless of the position the Turkish side will take, we must insist on resuming negotiations from the point at which they were left off.”

She added that Christodoulides will have Disy’s “undivided support” at the meeting, and that the meeting itself constitutes “an opportunity to demonstrate our readiness, our sincere will for the resumption of negotiations”.

Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou described the holding of the informal dinner as a “positive fact” after “a long period of stagnation and a lack of developments”, and thus said the Greek Cypriot side “should go to this dinner with a positive attitude and a creative spirit”.

“We are the ones who want to prove that we really want to end the longest stalemate which has ever existed in the history of the Cyprus problem and to resume negotiations from the point at which they were left off in 2017,” he said.

Diko leader Nicholas Papadopoulos said the informal dinner’s holding is an “important and positive development”.

“Under no circumstances can our side accept a change of the basis of the negotiations to what the Turkish side seeks, to have negotiations on the basis of two states,” he warned.

Dipa leader Marios Garoyian said the Cyprus problem is “at a very delicate point”, while Edek leader Marinos Sizopoulos said the next stage of negotiations should “certainly not” take the form of a “4+1 meeting” that Ersin Tatar had earlier suggested.

Tatar had suggested that such a meeting take place last week, with such a meeting to involve the Turkish Cypriots, Turkey, the Greek Cypriots, Greece, and Guterres, “to discuss how the future of Cyprus would be shaped”.

The informal dinner is set to take place in New York on October 15.

Source: CNA