President Mustafa Akinci received UN temporary special consultant Jane Holl Lute on Monday afternoon.
The former deputy director for Homeland Security who has been appointed by UN Secretary-General Guterres to sound out all parties to the Cyprus talks, met with Akinci for two hours, one year after the breakdown of the Conference on Cyprus in Switzerland.
Also present at the meeting was President Akinci’s special advisor on diplomacy and the EU, Erhan Elcin. No statements were issued directly after the meeting, however, later on Monday, Akinci’s spokesman Baris Burcu said the following:
“During the meeting, Akinci explained to Lute in detail, the reasons why a solution [for Cyprus] has not been reached to date, despite all the positive efforts of the Turkish Cypriot side.” He described the meeting between the UN envoy and Akinci as “useful”. Burcu added that the Turkish Cypriot side has made clear that it does not want to be part of “open-ended” negotiations that are “full of uncertainties” for the future.
President Akinci also received Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in a separate meeting.
On his Twitter account, Cavusoglu wrote that the meeting was intended to “discuss possible ways forward on the Cyprus issue in the coming period”.
Lute held a meeting with the same agenda with President Nicos Anastasiades earlier on in the day. She will hold separate meetings in Ankara, Athens, London and Brussels.
After the UN envoy completes all her contacts, she will present her report to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
AA News Agency
