It is unlikely that the two Cypriot community leaders will meet together with UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres in New York, Republican Turkish Party leader Tufan Erhürman has said.
In an interview with BRT, He said that a tripartite meeting was unlikely. In the absence of last minute changes, Guterres will meet them separately, he said.
Citing Turkey’s searches for hydrocarbons in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the TRNC government’s plans to reopen Maraş/Varosha, when asked about his views on the UN General Assembly work in New York on the Cyprus issue, Erhürman said that during a recent meeting with the President Mustafa Akıncı, the impression was that a tripartite meeting was unlikely.
In the absence of a last-minute change, Guterres will meet with both leaders separately, Erhürman said.
He added that the fact that an agreement between South Cyprus and ENI and TOTAL energy companies has come up, “raises our concerns further”, whether the Turkish side of the hydrocarbon issue and the issue of the UN resolutions can be handled.
In a separate article by ‘Yeni Duzen’, South Cyprus has claimed that “the Turkish side is trying to change the direction of negotiations and procedures with attractive ideas and is even trying to prevent agreement on the terms of reference”, Greek Cypriot government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou has said that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an agreement on outlines for renewed Cyprus talks, and claimed that Guterres had conveyed a message to the Turkish side.
“This is what the Secretary-General has asked for, and it is certainly positive that he underlined that substantive negotiations need to resume, building of course on the work that was done during the Conference in Crans-Montana”, Prodromou added.
Asked if Nicosia considers the fact that Turkish drillship ‘Yavuz’ had withdrawn and that the ‘Fatih’ would also withdraw from the west of the island, as a de-escalation, Prodromou said the situation would be evaluated.
He said however that for negotiations to resume, Turkey’s “illegal” activities in [South] Cyprus’ EEZ needed to end.
Yeni Duzen
