Guterres ‘seriously disturbed’ by lack of progress on Cyprus problem

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “seriously disturbed” by the lack of progress achieved on the Cyprus problem since last month’s tripartite meeting involving his envoy Maria Angela Holguin, President Nikos Christodoulides, and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, according to reports on Wednesday evening.

Turkish public broadcaster TRT reported that Guterres had “emphasised that the Cypriot leaders must urgently take steps to facilitate life between the two communities” in the form of confidence-building measures.

It also reported that he had instructed Holguin to “tell the leaders that if no steps are taken on confidence-building measures, I will absolutely not convene an enlarged meeting” after Wednesday’s tripartite meeting.

Holguin had said after Wednesday’s meeting that “for the time being, there will be no new enlarged meeting”, and that or such a meeting to be arranged, “we need results on the confidence-building measures”.

She added that “I am waiting for something more”, before responding to a question over whether Christodoulides and Erhurman had responded to the demand for more progress she had made on Tuesday by saying “I think they might. Not yet”.

Despite this, she insisted that she is “not disappointed” in the lack of results from her latest visit to the island.

“All processes are dynamic. This one is a little slower, but we are continuing,” she said.

Christodoulides, too, denied being disappointed upon his return to the presidential palace, before outlining the five-point package of proposals he had submitted to Holguin and Erhurman at the meeting.

Additionally, he said, he had “expressed readiness” to announce “additional unilateral measures for the Turkish Cypriots” and also suggested that Greek Cypriot chief negotiator Menelaos Menelaou and Erhurman’s undersecretary Mehmet Dana meet within the next two weeks.

That meeting, he said, should take place with “one goal, and only one: the resumption [of negotiations]”.

Erhurman, meanwhile, said that “the atmosphere of trust was not at the desired level” between the island’s two sides, and said that as such, he had told Holguin that holding an enlarged meeting “would therefore be meaningless at this stage”.

Of Christodoulides’ five-point proposal, he said that it “contained no new elements” and “reiterated topics which had been raised in various forms before”.

He closed his remarks by saying that Wednesday’s meeting had been “useful but not very productive”.

Holguin had said after her meeting with Christodoulides on Tuesday that “not much progress” had been achieved on confidence-building measures between the island’s two sides since her previous visit to the island.

No date has yet been set for her next visit, though Christodoulides aid on Wednesday that Erhurman had “expressed his readiness to meet without Holguin being present if she is not in Cyprus”, and that “we will not wait for her to return”.