Continuation of the informal dialogue in a more expanded form with the participation of the guarantor powers, under the auspices of the UN, but probably not with the appointment of Maria Angela Holguin, but with the assignment of these tasks to a United Nations official, alongside discussions between the leaders of the two communities with aiming to open new roadblocks and focus in principle on Pyroi or the Reds in exchange for the opening of Mias Milia, President Christodoulidis and occupation leader Ersin Tatar discussed with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the informal dinner held on Tuesday evening in New York, according to competent sources.
Essentially, this is an effort on two tracks, those of the expanded informal dialogue and that of building trust between the communities, so that the way is gradually opened for the resumption of negotiations, according to the same sources.
Although the position of the Turkish side is about expanded contacts without the United Kingdom, i.e. the two sides, Greece and Turkey, it seems that the direction in which things are moving includes London as the UN Secretary General will talk to the British for the next steps, as he already did with Greece and Turkey. Greece and the United Kingdom do not accept any other format than that of the five parties, according to information.
Mr. Tatar reportedly disagreed with the appointment of Maria Angela Holgin, considering that she did not accomplish what the T/C side is asking for the three "direct" (trade, flights, contacts), which means that the General of the UN will proceed to entrust the routing of these expanded contacts to another person, possibly Assistant Secretary General Rosemary Di Carlo.
The EU side insisted that it considers as non-negotiable elements the safeguarding of the three singles (single sovereignty, single personality, single citizenship), the safeguarding of the Republic of Cyprus and the functionality of the state, which is necessary for an EU member state. He reiterated also that the I/O side is not discussing anything other than termination of the guarantees, or the position for a complete withdrawal of troops with a sunset clause instead of a review clause.
The discussion on confidence-building measures focused mainly on the possible opening of roadblocks, with Mr. Tatar asking for the re-opening of the Mias Milia roadblock, and Mr. Christodoulidis replying that along with this roadblock, the Y/C side is asking for the opening barricade or in Pyroi or Kokkina. At the same time, Mr. Christodoulidis raised the idea of creating a Truth Commission as a possible MOU, with Mr. Tatar rejecting it before the solution. A proposal to create a technical committee on youth issues was also mentioned, which Mr. Tatar also rejected.
In the discussion between the leaders, Mr. Tatar reportedly also referred to the issue of prosecutions against persons involved in the usurpation of private property, requesting the intervention of the PtD.
The discussion, according to information from competent sources, began with the intervention of the UN Secretary-General who stated that there is a need to have an open discussion with "out of the box" ideas and avoiding confrontations between the leaders based on previous statements, while he thanked Maria Angela Holguin for the work he did although he did not achieve the goal of resuming talks.
According to the same information, Mr. Guterres noted that he took the initiative as someone who understands Cyprus, also due to the situation in the region. He noted that although there is a difference in the starting point, with one leader talking about sovereign equality and the other about UN resolutions, he believes that some elements can be gradually found to be discussed beyond the headlines.
The other important element highlighted by the UN Secretary-General is to take some confidence-building measures in the direction of improving community relations and the lives of citizens.
As the same sources said, in his intervention the PtD thanked the UN Secretary-General for his initiative, and referred to the points in which he considers that he has proven that there is political will and commitment to a solution, listing in particular the agreement of the parties on the appointment personal envoy although the post was for a special envoy, she accepted a name that was proposed but was rejected by Turkey and accepted Holgin's appointment as well as her proposals for meetings with the Turkish leader. He also stated that he proceeded to open Euro-Turkish relations, citing the conclusions of the European Council of last April, that the government accepted Fidan's participation in an informal meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers, and that he announced measures in favor of Turkish citizens from the Republic of Cyprus.
According to the same information, for his part, the T/K leader, after repeating the positions for sovereign equality, noted that while the T/K side has international meetings in London and Brussels, he himself cannot proceed to meetings, and mentioned in Erdoğan's speech at the General Assembly where he presented the position of the Turkish side for two states. He also referred again to the position of the t/c side for direct trade, flights and relations for t/c.
The same sources spoke of extensive reports by Mr. Tatar about the cases of usurpation of property and the arrests made asking the PtD to intervene, with Mr. Christodoulidis allegedly replying that in the EU states the executive power does not affect the judiciary, and that he even had a similar request from the Israeli President to whom he gave a similar answer, while referring to a joint statement of the political parties and political parties against the illegal use of property.
Regarding the future of the process, although the UN Secretary-General did not mention it in the report, Holguin raised the issues of governance and guarantees, considering that there can be a discussion on the basis of what the EU side says, while he mentioned that in Crans Montana he had said that the guarantees could not be maintained and that progress had been made in the troop discussion. For his part, Mr. Tatar reportedly referred to the idea of two states within the EU, which the EU side insisted could not be done.
