Talks on the Cyprus problem must start immediately, President Nicos Anastasiades is expected to tell UN envoy Jane Holl Lute when he meets her later on Sunday, according to Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides.
Anastasiades will meet Lute at 6.30 on Sunday afternoon, while a second meeting will be held at the same time on Monday, the palace announced.
In an interview with the CyBC on Sunday Christodoulides said he had conveyed the same message to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlue Cavusoglu during a recent meeting in Bucharest.
Christodoulides also said Lute is expected to have something more specific to say to Anstasiades about the terms of reference for the restart of talks, which is why a second meeting is expected to be held on Monday.
Diko leader Nicolas Papadopoulos said the problem with solving the Cyprus problem lies with Turkey. “The key to solving the Cyprus problem lies in Ankara,” he said at an event on Sunday.
On Saturday government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said “We look forward to the meeting with the aim of making progress and possibly concluding the terms of reference. We are ready.”
Lute is visiting as part of her efforts to facilitate the leaders come up with terms of reference for a new round of negotiations. She met Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci at 11am on Sunday. The meeting finished shortly after 12 although no statements were made.
Lute was appointed by UN Secretary general Antonio Guterres in May to assess if there was grounds for restarting negotiations. She has visited Cyprus three times for this purpose, in July, October and December in addition to meetings with officials from Greece, Turkey, the UK and the EU.
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