Work can be accomplished on Cyprus issue if there is political will, President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, said at the Presidential Palace, in Nicosia, while speaking to journalists shortly before his departure for Nicosia Airport, where he was set to have a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhürman.

Asked to comment on a statement by UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, that there is still much work to be done on the Cyprus issue, President Christodoulides said, "There is work to be done, which I can tell you with certainty can be accomplished if there is political will."

"If my memory serves me right, this is the eleventh meeting since October, and there have also been 16 meetings of the negotiators," he noted, adding that he is going to the meeting with 19 very specific points concerning substance, methodology, Confidence-Building Measures, and expressing hope for positive results.

Noting that the coming week is crucial, President Christodoulides said that earlier today he had a telephone call with EU envoy for the Cyprus issue, Raffaele Fitto.

"In the first days that I will be in New York - we arrive Saturday at midnight - I will have a meeting with Mrs. Holguín. We are fully prepared, if the Secretary-General deems it appropriate, beyond the bilateral meeting, to participate, to attend, and to discuss at a trilateral level, as well as in an expanded conference," he pointed out. "Therefore, I am going with a positive attitude, with specific ideas and opinions, and I hope there will be results," he added.

Asked whether the fact that the UN Secretary-General excluded the possibility of holding a trilateral or expanded conference in New York during the UN General Assembly serves as leverage, the President of the Republic responded negatively, pointing out that during the official week of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General has 186 bilateral meetings with the heads of delegations of UN member states, and after Saturday, when he completes these meetings, he makes some other contacts.

"It is not a matter of time; if necessary, we will stay in New York, we will stay on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we will go back in October, we will go to Geneva. The issue is to have the necessary political will," he stressed. As far as we are concerned, he added, "if the Secretary-General deems it appropriate this week and next week or whenever he sees fit, we are fully prepared; we believe that the necessary infrastructure exists to proceed to an expanded conference." "What is lacking, I believe, is political will," he noted.

Responding to a question about the EU envoy for the Cyprus issue, President Christodoulides said that Raffaele Fitto has already taken initiatives in the direction in which he has been appointed, specifically to the direction of EU-Turkish relations.

In response to a question about whether he will discuss the issue of mixed marriages with the Turkish Cypriot leader, he said that mixed marriages "are not a confidence-building measure." "Beyond that, the Republic of Cyprus has regulations that apply to all those interested in acquiring Cypriot citizenship, and that is what we are doing," he emphasised.

We are a state where rule of law applies, a state that is monitored daily by the European Union, "and within this framework and on this specific issue, we act in accordance with what is done for all those who express interest in acquiring the citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus," he concluded.

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 due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose term nears its end, announced he would convene another meeting in broader format, after adequate preparation, but gave no timeline. He secured to that end the consensus of both sides and of the guarantor powers. María Angela Holguín, Guterres’ Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties. Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto acts as the European Commission’s Special Representative for Cyprus, succeeding EU special envoy Johannes Hahn.

CNA/KA/PH/EPH/2026 

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY