Stefanou declares ‘low expectations’ for enlarged Cyprus problem meeting
Akel leader Stefanos Stefanou on Saturday said he has “low expectations” for the forthcoming enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem, which is set to begin in New York on Wednesday.
“In such a meeting of low expectations, it is obvious that the United Nations Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres] will seek some small steps to maintain the momentum around the Cyprus issue, with the wish and hope that things will change,” he said.
He added that such a change may come about with “a change … in the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community in the electoral processes which exist in the occupied territories in October”.
Stefanou had been present when Tufan Erhurman was announced as opposition political party the CTP’s election candidate in April, with Erhurman since having won the endorsement of a second party, the TDP, last month.
Turning his attention back to the coming week’s enlarged meeting, he said, “we should come with good will and readiness for negotiations in New York”.
“We should always be positive, with the basis of a positive agenda, because it is we who are the victims of the invasion and occupation, alongside our Turkish Cypriot compatriots, and that is why together with our Turkish Cypriot compatriots, we must continue the fight and the effort to solve the Cyprus problem,” he said.
He added that negotiations to solve the Cyprus problem must be carried out on the basis of the Guterres framework, which was presented by Guterres to involved parties at the Crans Montana summit in 2017 and outlined a solution based on a bicommunal, bizonal Cyprus in slightly greater detail.
“A realistic way exists to reunite the place and the people, ending the Turkish occupation and forming a common state, in which Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots will live peacefully and harmoniously and will jointly manage it,” he said.
The enlarged meeting is set to be attended by President Nikos Christodoulides, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, and the United Kingdom’s minister of state for Europe Stephen Doughty.
Before that meeting, UN special representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart is set to brief the security council on the Cyprus problem on July 14.