CYPRUS: UN envoy to hold more meetings to get talks going again

UN Envoy Jane Holl Lute, will resume separate meetings with Cypriot leaders on Monday in a concerted bid to get reunification talks back on track after 26 months of inertia.

She is holding a second round of talks on Monday with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, in efforts to formulate the terms of reference to get both sides back to the table.

Anastasiades is meeting Lute at the Presidential Palace as a follow-on from Sunday’s talks.

Lute will then meet Akinci later on Monday which will continue from their contacts on Sunday also.

Government spokesman, Prodromos Prodromou said that Anastsiades had a productive meeting which focused on Lute’s mandate to formulate the terms of reference for the resumption of the negotiations.

He said Anastasiades “outlined his positions and his positive approach on the resumption of the negotiations”.

Anastasiades also raised the issue of Turkey’s illegal actions within Cyprus’ EEZ and territorial waters and generally the Turkish side’s provocations such as allowing illegal settlement by non-entitled persons in the fenced -off ghost town of Varosha.

 After their informal meeting on August 9 the Cypriot leaders decided to continue engaging in the efforts undertaken by Lute “to finalize the Terms of Reference that would enable structured and results-oriented negotiations leading to a settlement with a sense of urgency".

Anastasiades and Akinci have declared their readiness to hold a tripartite meeting with the UN chief Antonio Guterres after September’s United Nations General Assembly in order to plan the way forward.

It is hoped the necessary steps will be made in order to resume talks that collapsed two years ago.

The last round of Cyprus settlement negotiations, in July 2017, at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended in acrimony. There has been no official peace process since then.