Negotiators to visit Athens and Ankara next week

The two negotiators on the Cyprus problem, Osman Ertug and Andreas Mavroyiannis, will embark on their first visits to the respective Greek and Turkish capitals next week, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris reports.

The paper adds that they will be meeting with undersecretaries at the Greek and Turkish Foreign Ministries.

The paper says that the Greek Cypriots are setting great store on these meetings, but they will be disappointed if they expect to gain anything outside of the negotiations during the contacts in Ankara, since the negotiator of the Greek Cypriot side is not Turkey but the Turkish Cypriots.

The source also denied reports in the Greek Cypriot press that Ertug will meet in Athens with Demetris Karataides, the honorary ambassador, advisor on the Cyprus problem to the Greek Foreign Ministry.

Moreover, Politis reports that Osman Ertug has asked for a meeting with his Greek Cypriot counterpart, Andreas Mavroyiannis in order to finalise the dates of these respective meetings to Athens and Ankara. The paper adds that Ertug had also acknowledged that there were problems in the joint press release to be issued for the start of negotiations and suggested that the Anastasiades – Eroglu meeting to kickstart the talks should take place without one.