President to consult with Ban Ki-moon

President Nicos Anastasiades is due to talk with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon by phone this afternoon, Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides told reporters today after a meeting of party leaders at the Presidential Palace, the Cyprus Mail reports.

“The President’s consultation with the party leaders, in the presence of the negotiator’s legal support team, which began on Saturday, was completed today,” Stylianides said.

Ban and Anastasiades are due to speak at 3pm, the spokesman said.

In response to the UN Secretary General’s recent comments that there had been significant progress regarding a joint statement, Stylianides said that the subject of ‘significant progress’ had been repeated on many occasions.

“We will wait for the final result. I have said in the past that when it comes to the Cyprus problem we can be very close but also very far from any developments,” he said.

He said the President and Ban would discuss the joint statement but it was also likely other topics regarding the issue would be discussed. This was in response to whether Anastasiades would bring up the role of the UN’s Special Advisor Alexander Downer during their conversation. Downer irked the government last weekend by meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at the Turkish embassy in the north. A complaint was filed with the UN.

“The President does not intend to discuss any other matters other than those relating to negotiations between the two sides during his conversation with the UN Secretary General,” Stylianides said.

He added that the Greek Cypriot side has always had a constructive attitude towards drafting a joint statement.

“We insist that if the other side shows its willingness then we can be very close,” he said.

Stylianides refused to comment on whether a counter-proposal had been handed over by the Turkish Cypriot side regarding the joint statement.

2. Eroglu: we sent a draft joint declaration to the Greek Cypriot side

Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu said that the Turkish Cypriot side had sent its latest draft proposal on the joint declaration to the Greek Cypriot side via the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser for Cyprus Alexander Downer and is still waiting for its reply, Vatan daily says.

Noting that the draft had been the result of long-term works, Eroglu repeated that from the very beginning he had declared that there was no need for such a declaration to relaunch the Cyprus negotiations process. Claiming that an agreement was reached at the first dinner meeting held between the two leaders to start the negotiations during the first half of October, he said, despite this, three months has been lost until now.

Claiming that the draft proposal put forward by the Turkish Cypriot side had been welcomed by the UN, Eroglu argued that according to the leaked reports in the Greek Cypriot press the Cyprus government was not too pleased with it.

3. US and UK ambassadors reportedly also present at Davutoglu’s meeting with Downer

Turkish daily Kibris Postasi claims that US ambassador to Cyprus John Koening and UK High Commissioner Matthew Kidd were also present during the meeting that the UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer had with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at the Turkish embassy in the north.