Jenca reaffirms UN's unwavering commitment to peace in Cyprus

Assistant UNSG Miroslav Jenca has reaffirmed UN's unwavering commitment to peace in Cyprus during his visit to the island.

Jenca said in a post on X (former Twitter), that he is pleased with the detailed discussions he had with the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, where, as he noted in his tweet, he reaffirmed "the UN's unwavering commitment to peace on the island."

Earlier 28 August, Jenca visited the photo exhibition ‘Inclusive Diplomacy: Women’s participation in the Cyprus Talks’, located outside Ledra Palace Hotel in UN bufferzone, in support of women's participation in peacemaking, as UN in Cyprus noted in a post in X (Twitter).

President Nikos Christodoulides, meanwhile, expressed his satisfaction with the meeting he had with UN Assistant Secretary-General, Miroslav Jenca, noting that the meeting was very constructive. In addition, he expressed once again the hope for a joint meeting with the UN Secretary General and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar in New York.

In statements, upon his arrival at an anti-occupation event in Nicosia on 28 August, the President said "I expressed the hope, the optimism that there will be a joint meeting with the Secretary-General at the end of the first official week of the United Nations General Assembly."

"I repeated my proposal, if it were possible to have a joint meeting even tonight. Unfortunately, the message I received in the afternoon was once again negative," he noted

The President noted that the meeting with the UN official was very constructive. "I am very happy from what I have heard from Mr. Jenca, first and foremost that he recognises the readiness of our side to resume the talks from where they left off," he noted.

In addition, President Christodoulides said that he considers it important that there will be meetings in the next few days also abroad. Meetings which "will be decisive on how the whole effort to restart the talks will develop," he concluded.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.  

(Source: CNA)