Nicosia is waiting for a United Nations peace initiative to revive Cyprus reunification talks in limbo for more than a year, an official said on Monday.
“The position of our own side, regardless of any other discussion…is that, yes, we want, and we expect the UN Secretary General to take the initiative to re-start the negotiation from where they left off,” government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou told reporters.
He made the comment after President Nicos Anastasiades briefed political party leaders on Monday about the last week’s visit of UN envoy Jane Holl Lute.
Lute was on Cyprus for consultations with the Cypriot leaders to see if a door can be opened towards a resumption of negotiations.
Lute will also hold consultations in Athens, London and Brussels. She’s already had contact with Ankara.
She is expected to compile a report in September for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres who appointed Lute to see if the sides had narrowed their difference since the failure of a Swiss summit in July 2017.
Asked about the prospect of there being no grounds to restart talks, Prodromou said: "We will see if there is such a possibility. Right now, the position of our side is absolutely positive, just as the UNSG expects."
The last talks aimed at reunifying the island as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation collapsed in Switzerland a year ago after the UN chief failed to get the parties to agree on a post-settlement security arrangement for Cyprus.
It was the first time Cyprus talks involved the guarantor powers of Britain, Greece and Turkey.
Under the island’s 1960 treaty of independence, the three countries secured intervention rights to safeguard the island’s sovereignty, but the Greek Cypriots want these scrapped while the Turkish Cypriots are reluctant to do so.
The other stumbling block is that Anastasiades wants all Turkish troops to leave the island after a solution is reached while Turkey is opposed to this idea.
Rival Cypriot leaders failed to revive their divided island's moribund peace process after an UN-backed informal dinner date in April – their only meeting since the failed summit.
The United Nations is reluctant to step in while both sides seem miles apart in finding common ground.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third in response to a coup sponsored by the military junta then ruling Greece.
Tensions in the region heightened after Nicosia stepped up its search for natural gas reserves, a move opposed by Turkey.
The EU — of which Cyprus is a member state while Turkey is not — condemned Turkey’s actions in the eastern Mediterranean in trying to block oil and gas exploration in Cyprus’ maritime zone.
Developments in the government’s energy search were also discussed at the meeting on Monday.
Party leaders were given a detailed brief by Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis regarding the increased interest of companies in exploiting Cyprus’ EEZ and efforts to commercialise the Aphrodite field.
"There will be negotiations on the exploitation of the field that is both realistic and credible," said Prodromou.
Nicosia is looking to export Aphrodite gas to Egypt while Israel is claiming some of the profits as a small part of Aphrodite strays into the Israeli maritime zone.
