Press Releases

During yesterday’s (20.10.20) briefing of the international press by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Spokesperson, Mr. Stéphane Dujarric, CNA’s correspondent posed a question as follows:

Question: Could you please provide some more details regarding the next move of the SG on Cyprus following the election of a new Turkish-Cypriot leader? Will you know if he is going to deploy Mrs Lute for exploratory talks? Is Elisabeth Spehar going to do shuttle diplomacy? Can you confirm that the UN will host a dinner for the two leaders next week as it was reported in Cyprus?

Dujarric: “As for your last question I have to check.

The Secretary-General has taken note of the election of Mr. Ersin Tatar as the Turkish Cypriot leader. The Secretary-General remains committed to supporting both sides in revitalizing the political process and to exploring the possibility of convening an informal five-plus-UN meeting with both leaders and the guarantor powers at an appropriate stage.

The Secretary-General underscores the importance of trust-building between the two communities and encourages the continued development and implementation of confidence-building measures which would bring the two communities closer together.

He further calls on the two sides and all relevant parties to avoid any unilateral actions that could undermine the prospects for renewed negotiations.

As the way forward, I think that the best way to resolve disputes is by returning to negotiations by fostering lasting settlement of long standing Cyprus problem for the benefit of all Cypriots and create a peace in the region.”

Moreover, a question was posed by a Turkish journalist, as follows:

Question: Does the Secretary-General have a time-frame work to bring the two parties together because what has said before that he was planning to convene a meeting between the two leaders and the guarantor powers?

Dujarric: I don’t have the time-frame for convening of a meeting with the parties, the guarantor powers and the UN. Obviously these developments are fairly new. The elections took place over the weekend but discussions will be ongoing.

(EH/ECHR)