“We accepted an invitation. We had received an invitation, and I accepted it right away. Today, Mr. Erchiurman also informed me that he will be attending.”
Nikos Christodoulides
While nothing of substance may have emerged from President Christodoulides’s afternoon meeting with Tufan Erhurman, however, the dialogue and interactions are moving beyond the narrow corridors of the old Nicosia airport and extending to events and other occasions.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Such as the bicommunal Pyla Festival this coming Saturday evening, which both leaders will attend.
In addition to their joint participation in upcoming meetings of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage, the Technical Committee on Youth, and the Coordinating Committee of the Civil Society Advisory Body.
The two leaders agreed that time is running out dangerously quickly regarding the initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General.Although there does not appear to be any substantive progress, they are nevertheless intensifying their meetings in the hope that something will materialize in the very near future.
“Certainly, the end of the Secretary-General’s term is a very important factor. It was something we discussed today; the discussion began with this topic.”
Nikos Christodoulides
Today’s meeting took place without Maria Olgin in attendance.
According to the President of the Republic, his 19 proposals were discussed at length, some of which the Turkish Cypriot leader does not oppose.
“On some, I received negative responses; on others, I received positive responses; and on some, he asked for more time to decide, to examine the issues, and so on.”
Nikos Christodoulides
With the Turkish Cypriot leader once again putting forward the seven confidence-building measures, which, he says, were proposed by the UN Secretary-General himself.
“Some others that cannot move forward for specific reasons, some that are not confidence-building measures. In any case, when the Secretary-General was here, he was very specific regarding the proposals he had submitted, and he knows firsthand what both my reactions and those of Mr. Erhurman were.””
Nikos Christodoulides
For his part, however, the Turkish Cypriot leader made no statement regarding the outcome of today’s meeting.
Watch Giorgos Georgiadis’s report:
As Giorgos Georgiadis reported on Alpha’s main newscast, in assessing today’s meeting, for the first time there is something concrete—albeit small—and that is their joint presence at the Pyla Festival and their participation in the technical committee meetings.
These steps indicate that contacts are intensifying, that dialogue is taking place, and they also convey the impression that the two leaders are making an effort.
Giorgos Georgiadis believes that these moves are not coincidental. Erhurman is facing harsh criticism in the occupied territories from a group of Turkish Cypriots who believe he has not done enough on the Cyprus issue, even though they entrusted him with it, while the President of the Republic also wants to convey the impression that there is progress on the Cyprus issue.
Meanwhile, a particularly significant point from the President’s statement following the meeting is that he will address the Cypriot people in a broadcast when he himself deems that we have reached a certain point, which suggests the end of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s term.
