UN expects clear way forward to end negotiations

The United Nations expect a clear way forward to emerge from the meeting the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides will have with the UN Secretary-General in Geneva on 7 July in order to conclude the negotiations, UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer yesterday,

“At the moment we are canvassing their views on how they think this can be done,” he told the press after a meeting with President Christofias. “The Secretary General has his own views as well and we want to talk to the two sides about that”.

He said that he will make recommendations to the UN Secretary General based on his discussions with the two sides, but the Secretary General will make up his own mind on how to handle the meeting.

“Part of the discussion we want to have at the moment is about the mutual convergences at some of the areas that have been discussed recently and we thought that these discussions have been quite promising, but also we look forward to the July 7 meeting to see what we can do to make that meeting a success,” he added.

Asked what the agenda of the July 7 meeting will be, Mr Downer said that it is too early for an agenda, adding that they still need to see where the leaders get to in terms of their discussion of the issues which are currently before them, but also to talk to the two sides and have a really good understanding of their thinking on how the meeting could work.

“We had some preliminary discussions with the Secretary General in New York, but we need to place all these together over the next month”, he added.

Replying to a question on whether there is an action plan for the July 7 meeting, Mr Downer said that it is a bit premature for an action plan. “What we need to do is spend a bit more time talking to the two sides to work out what they feel comfortable with. At the end of the day this is their negotiations not ours, they’ve got to feel comfortable with the way forward, but on the other hand we need a way forward otherwise these negotiations will go on for a hundred years. So we do need to find a way forward”, he said.

He said that everybody knows what the issues are. “Both sides know very well until now what the differences are, they have been through all of the issues and they have a pretty clear understanding of each other’s positions. They are still coming up with bridging proposals from time to time. Greek Cypriots have come up with a bridging proposal recently, so both sides need to keep doing that”.

He added that “we look forward to them to continue the process, but at the same time to make sure that they have got a plan on how they are going to move forward”.

Asked on the possibility of convening an international conference, Mr Downer said that the Greek Cypriot side has made it very clear that the internal issues must be dealt with before an international conference takes place. He said that he did not think that the international conference is going to happen very soon.

“The Turkish Cypriot side has a more expansive vision on the international conference”, he said, adding that right now we should concentrate on the 7 July meeting.

Downer also met with Eroglu yesterday afternoon. No comments were made after the meeting The two leaders will be meeting together next week.