Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides is convinced that 2019 will be a milestone year for the Cyprus issue, underlining that the current status quo cannot constitute a solution of the problem.
In an interview with the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) Christodoulides said he considers 2019 will be “undoubtedly and without any exaggeration, a milestone year to the Cyprus problem.”
He said the first major task is to formulate the terms of reference that will allow substantive, targeted and results-oriented negotiations to take place.
An agreement on the terms of reference and the resumption of substantive and promising negotiations constitute the only goal of the Greek Cypriot side, and this is the message that has been clearly conveyed to the UN Secretary-General’s envoy Jane Holl Lute.
Lute is expected to pay a new visit to Cyprus later this month or in February, to clinch an agreement on the terms of reference.
UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said in his report on his good offices mission in Cyprus issued that prior to resuming fully fledged negotiations, the sides should agree on the terms of reference that would constitute the consensus starting point for a possible negotiated conclusion to the Cyprus issue.
Christodoulides said the aim of agreeing on the terms of reference is to clear up matters related to the negotiations and the two sides to have a common understanding about them.
He said the terms of reference will confirm what was achieved during the last negotiating process, the Guterres Framework, as well as issues related to the procedure, for example, if a new effort will begin with bicommunal negotiations in Nicosia, or with a new Conference on Cyprus.
He said a positive outcome on the terms of reference, which he considers as an absolutely achievable goal if all the parties involved truly realise that the current state of affairs is dangerous for all the people of Cyprus, will lead to a second milestone for the Cyprus problem in 2019.
“This milestone is nothing else but the resumption of substantive negotiations that could lead to a positive outcome,” the Foreign Minister said.
“It is our strong belief, and we’ve been working towards this direction, that the currently unacceptable status quo cannot constitute the settlement of the Cyprus problem.”
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.
Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results.
The last round of negotiations, in July 2017, collapsed at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana.
