The UN Secretary-General feels it is important to resume a viable and comprehensive negotiation process aiming to reunite divided Cyprus and he remains committed to supporting the two sides in that effort.
This is what his spokesman said in New York on Wednesday, in response to a question on UN special envoy Jane Holl Lute’s contacts this week in Nicosia and Athens.
“I can confirm officially that yesterday (Tuesday) she met with both the Greek Cypriot leader, Mr Anastasiades, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Tatar. This is part of the ongoing consultations she is carrying out on behalf of the Secretary-General with the two communities, as well as the guarantor powers,” Stéphane Dujarric told journalists.
“This is really to assess the conditions to prepare for an informal meeting of the 5+1. Today (Wednesday) she is indeed in Athens meeting with Greek officials.
“The Secretary-General’s position is that he feels it is important to resume a viable and comprehensive negotiation process and he remains committed to supporting the two sides in that effort,” he added.
Cyprus is divided since a 1974 invasion by Turkey which still maintains troops in the breakaway northern part of the EU-member island.
The latest UN-brokered round of talks took place in 2017 in the Swiss resort of Crans Montana but failed to yield any results.
