The President must be clear in his meeting with UNSG’s Envoy

AKEL on the UN Secretary-General Special Envoy’s visit to Cyprus

Statements by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou,

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 16 July 2018, Nicosia

The visit of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy Jane Holl Lute which has been announced is a development that was anticipated. For some time, Mr. Guterres had sent out the message that after the elections in Turkey he would sound out the involved parties to conclude whether there is a prospect of taking a new initiative on his part on the Cyprus problem.

From the very outset, the UN Secretary-General has been clear about what he demands from the involved parties for him to take a new initiative:

1. The parties must accept the continuation of the negotiations from the point where they had remained at Crans Montana.
2. The parties should accept the utilization of the body of work that had been created in the negotiations over many years. This body of work consists of the convergences that had been recorded since 2008 and onwards, the framework of the UN Secretary-General’s conclusions and the informal document on the mechanism for implementing the solution.
3. The parties must agree on the same procedure of discussion as that applied at Crans Montana. That is to say, cross-negotiation of the six key issues identified by the UN Secretary-General in two negotiating tables. One table for the internal aspects of the Cyprus problem and one for the international aspects of the Cyprus problem.

Bearing in mind the UN Secretary-General’s positions, the President of the Republic must be very clear in his meeting with the UN Secretary-General, by declaring that he is fully in line with Mr. Guterres’ positions. Such a clear position will help towards creating the preconditions for a resumption of the negotiations, if of course the Turkish side is in line with the UN Secretary-General’s positions. If not, then it will be the Turkish side that will be responsible for any failure of the new effort.

AKEL’s wish and aspiration is that Mrs. Lute’s mission will be the beginning of the resumption of negotiations, that will lead to a solution; a solution that will end the occupation, liberate the country and reunite our people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, in a common bizonal, bi-communal federal state.