Cyprus stuck without UN envoy

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President Nicos Anastasiades criticised the Turkish side for preventing UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from appointing a new special envoy for Cyprus as a successor to Jane Hall Lute.

Lute, appointed in 2018, has stood down from her position after being unable to get the two sides back to the negotiating table.

Guterres met Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar in New York on September 27 to decide the next steps in the Cyprus peace process.

Although the announcement of an envoy was expected afterwards, the UN has not issued any statement on the matter.

Anastasiades blames Turkey for blocking progress on resuming Cyprus talks since they collapsed at Crans-Montana in July 2017.

On the UN envoy, the President said the truth needs to come out as “hypocrisy” benefits nobody and “hiding the facts” is also not in the interest of international law.

He said that the UNSG made it clear during the meeting in New York that he could not accept the appointment of a personal envoy because China and Russia objected to it.

Therefore, Guterres told the Cypriot leaders he would appoint a special envoy to report to the Security Council.

He said that this is what the UN resolutions provide for as well as the SG’s mandate.

Anastasiades criticised Turkey’s and Tatar’s stance on the matter and Ankara’s provocations in the region, not only towards Cyprus and Greece.

He also questioned Ankara’s opinion on exclusive economic zones, pointing out that Turkey never accepted the Law of the Sea.

“Since Crans-Montana talks did not yield results, we turned to the UNSG with proposals for the resumption of the dialogue from where it left off, but Turkey was buying time to get rid of the then Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci and impose Ersin Tatar,” Anastasiades told an anti-occupation event on Sunday.

He pledged his determination, readiness and political will to return to the negotiating table for a solution that would be viable and just and would not turn Cyprus into a protectorate of Turkey or would lead to political inequality.

The President said the international community now realises that Turkey is an “aggressive force”.