National Council convenes to be briefed on Cyprus issue developments

President Nikos Christodoulides will chair a meeting of the National Council at the Presidential Palace, where he is to brief political leaders on the latest developments on the Cyprus issue.

The meeting, scheduled to begin at for 10am on 14 February, follows the visit to Cyprus of UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo and her separate meetings on 10 February with President Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.

DiCarlo said after meeting President Christodoulides that they discussed preparations for the upcoming meeting in Geneva next month, while conveying the UN Secretary-General’s strong commitment to work with the parties on this issue going forward.

President Christodoulides had said that he would convey specific proposals to the UN official on the way forward and mainly for a successful outcome when the Secretary-General decides to convene the expanded meeting.

“We are ready to participate. For us, the current status quo cannot be a solution to the Cyprus problem and as time goes by the situation is getting worse”, he said, while on Thursday he said that he was waiting for an update from DiCarlo on her contacts.

After Nicosia, DiCarlo paid visits to Athens and Ankara where she had meetings with the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Gerapetritis, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mehmet Kemal Bozay, respectively.

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)