NewzCyprus President Nikos Christodoulides expressed cautious optimism on Tuesday evening following a working dinner with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, saying he hopes Wednesday’s discussions will produce concrete progress towards reviving peace negotiations. Speaking after returning to the Presidential Palace, Christodoulides said resolving the Cyprus issue remained the only viable path forward and welcomed Guterres’ strong political commitment to the UN-led peace process. “There is no other option than resolving the Cyprus issue,” the president said, adding that he hoped to hear “positive developments” following Wednesday’s meetings.
Christodoulides described the dinner as an open, honest and productive discussion that addressed all major aspects of the peace process, including substantive issues, negotiation methodology, areas of convergence, an expanded dialogue framework and confidence-building measures. “The discussion will continue tomorrow morning, and we hope there will be specific announcements. We are working towards that goal.” The Cypriot president also welcomed the UN secretary-general’s continued personal engagement, noting that Guterres had once again reaffirmed his political commitment to advancing negotiations.
While acknowledging that differences between the two sides remain, Christodoulides said the discussions allowed both parties to present their arguments openly. “There were issues where different approaches remain, and that is no secret,” he said. “However, we had an honest discussion that examined the substance of the issues, areas of convergence, methodology, an expanded format and confidence-building measures.” He said Wednesday’s meeting, scheduled for 10am, would focus on achieving tangible outcomes and expressed hope that Guterres would be able to announce concrete next steps.
Christodoulides also highlighted growing international support for renewed diplomatic efforts, pointing to the involvement of both the United Nations and the European Union. He noted that European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica’s successor, Commissioner Magnus Brunner? Actually the article refers to Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, who is expected to visit Cyprus in the coming days.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (right) speaks with Cyprus' president Nikos Christodoulides after a meeting at Presidential Palace in Nicosia. (EPA Images pic)NICOSIA: UN chief Antonio Guterres said he held "very constructive" separate meetings with rival Cypriot leaders on Tuesday, ahead of trilateral meetings to weigh the prospect of fresh negotiations nine years after the peace process collapsed.With less than six months until the end of his term in office, Guterres flew to the divided Mediterranean island on the first visit by a UN secretary general since Ban Ki-moon's visit in 2010."I had two very constructive meetings with the leaders of the two communities," he said after separate talks with President Nikos Christodoulides of the Republic of Cyprus and his counterpart from the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Tufan Erhurman, who was elected in October.Guterres said he was there to show "solidarity with the people of Cyprus" and his commitment to "finding, or helping to find -- both with the Cypriots but also with the guarantors -- a solution".Decades of UN-backed talks have failed to reunify the divided island, with the last major round of peace talks in Switzerland collapsing in July 2017.Christodoulides' spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said the pair held "a substantive and sincere discussion" and expressed hope it would lead to concrete developments by the year's end when Guterres's mandate ends.For his part, the Turkish Cypriot leader also said he held a "constructive meeting" with Guterres, adding that the aim was "to do something different" to avoid the failures of 2004 and 2017."We are working on a new and realistic methodology, let's say, which will help us reach our common aim to do something different this time after the experiences of 2004 and 2017," Erhurman said.'The UN can't impose peace'After follow-up meetings with civil society figures and others, Guterres hosted the pair for a private dinner in the evening."The only thing I want to say is to express my wish and hope that tonight's discussion will be as good as the discussion we had this morning," Christodoulides said ahead of the dinner.On Wednesday, there will be a trilateral meeting followed by a press statement."The UN cannot impose peace. Only Cypriots, through their leaders, can build it," Guterres wrote on X after landing.Cyprus has been divide…
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