Athens: Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration are ready for the United Nations secretary-general’s proposal to form a “five-plus-United Nations” format to discuss a solution for the Cyprus issue, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said.
Speaking to Greek daily Kathimerini, Dendias evaluated the latest developments on the Cyprus issue and the Eastern Mediterranean tensions with Turkey.
Although he declared his support for Antonio Guterres’ proposal to bring the two sides on the island and the guarantor countries – Turkey, Greece and the U.K. – together in one platform, Dendias stated that he is not optimistic about a solution for the Cyprus issue.
He said that he found recent remarks by Turkish and Turkish Cypriot leaders about the issue “not encouraging.”
Guterres had instructed his special adviser, Jane Holl Lute, to begin consultations with all involved parties to determine whether preconditions exist to convene an informal summit on ending the island’s decades-old division.
Last week, the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) called on Guterres to adopt an open-minded approach to the formula of sovereign equality and two-state cooperation on the island.
Ersin Tatar sent a letter in response to a letter by Guterres, the TRNC presidency said in a statement.
Tatar said in his letter that, in light of the new conditions prevailing on the island and in the region, for a fair, realistic and sustainable reconciliation, the TRNC aims to establish a cooperative relationship between the two parties based on two sovereign states with equal international status.
Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration tried to prevent efforts for a solution on the island, he said, stressing that a resolution on specified grounds will help restore regional security and stability and pave the way for an encompassing vision in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Last week, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also met with the U.N.’s special envoy to Cyprus.
Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter that he “Stated to Jane Holl Lute, #UN’s Senior Official on #Cyprus, that federation project is no longer sustainable.”
He said the Turkish side promotes a two-state settlement based on equal sovereignty in line with the realities on the island. Common ground should be reached for a new negotiation process to be launched, he added.
The island of Cyprus has been divided into a Turkish Cypriot government in the north and a Greek Cypriot administration in the south since a 1974 military coup aimed at Cyprus’ annexation by Greece. – Agencies
