President seeks UN meeting with Tatar

President Nikos Christodoulides has requested that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres host a three-way meeting with him and the Turkish Cypriot leader to revive dormant peace talks.

In a letter to the UN boss, he also urged appointing a UN envoy to investigate the prospects of resuming the reunification process.

Christodoulides told reporters he had been informed by the Greek Foreign Minister, Giorgos Gerapetritis, about his meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, in Ankara.

“It seems that prospects to resume talks on the Cyprus issue are being created, everything will be judged on the data”.

The President’s meeting with Guterres has been arranged in New York for September 22 during his visit to the UN General Assembly.

He said that on Wednesday, he addressed the Secretary-General in writing, “requesting that he proceed with this meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader (Ersin Tatar)”.

“It was also a message we conveyed through our Permanent Representation and at the meeting I recently had with the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations. I hope there will be a response”.

Asked if his letter to the Guterres focused only on arranging a meeting, the President said: “I was focused on the subject of the meeting and, of course, on the Secretary-General responding to the Security Council’s call for the appointment of a special representative, who will investigate the prospects for restarting the talks”.

The UN has been trying to find common ground for Cyprus talks to resume for the first time since they collapsed at a Swiss resort in July 2017.

There have been no direct negotiations between Cypriot leaders since then.