“If there is a refusal from the Turkish side to the invitation of the Secretary General of the United Nations for a tripartite meeting, this is a disservice to the Turkish Cypriot leader towards the UN Secretary General and our Turkish Cypriot compatriots”, stressed the president of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulidisin his statements after the annual memorial service for the Patriarch Makarios III, at the Holy Monastery of Kykkos.

Asked to comment on statements by the Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, that there is no ground for a tripartite meeting and that he is not going to go to New York, Mr. Christodoulidis emphasized: “I have not read Mr. Tatar’s statements. As you convey them to me, if these statements are true, they are a sign of disrespect primarily to our Turkish Cypriot compatriots, but at the same time to the international community, the UN Secretary-General himself, but also the EU. The Secretary-General, the UN, asked to have this meeting. The one who seems to be weak with his positions, the positions he puts forward, is Mr. Tatar who seems, based on what you have conveyed to me, to be afraid to even discuss. In any case, we’ll see.”

Asked if there is ground for a tripartite meeting, Mr. Christodoulidis said that “the Secretary General decided exactly that this meeting should take place, which aimed to pave the way for the resumption of negotiations. We’ve been talking very specifically for a while now. And with the Secretary-General, who I saw recently in Paris and we had discussed this particular meeting, but also with Ms. Holgin, the personal envoy of the Secretary-General, with the EU, and all this led to the decision, as I announced it last night, to be scheduled for a meeting with the Secretary General and the Turkish Cypriot leader, on August 13, in New York, precisely to discuss and pave the way for the resumption of talks”.

In a journalist’s remark that therefore it has not been addressed officially invitation from the United Nations, the president of the Republic of Cyprus said that “of course, it is a bolidoscopy and the bolidoskop means officially, a specific date, August 13, to be in New York, to meet, exactly for this thing. And in order to end up there, a whole lot of preliminary work was done.”

Asked if there is a second plan, Mr. Christodoulidis replied: “We will continue. For us, there is no second plan regarding the non-resolution of the Cyprus issue. Stagnation favors Mr. Tatar and all those who want no progress in the Cyprus issue, no reunification of our homeland. For us there is no plan B, beyond the reunification of our homeland. All this time, since the first day of assuming our duties, we have been working very specifically to achieve this goal. There are many problems, disappointments, difficulties, but we will not stop working in this direction.”

When asked if he will go to New York for a meeting with the UN Secretary General, even if there is no tripartite meeting, Mr. Christodoulidis noted that if he needs to go to New York even tomorrow to meet the Secretary General, if the he himself deems it necessary, he will do it. “I had the opportunity to exchange views with the General Secretary in Paris, we also talked about the specific meeting that was planned. From here on we will be in contact with the UN to see the next steps. If the General Manager decides, I am ready to transfer tomorrow as well”, he noted.

In another question, if there are indications from Turkey that its attitude may change, Mr. Christodoulidis emphasized that he cannot speak on behalf of Turkey and does not want to say anything about its attitude. “We have a statement, as you conveyed it to me, that is the gist. From here on, what Turkey will do to Mr. Tatar or to the UN, the Secretary-General, I cannot know and I do not want to speak on behalf of Turkey,” he said.

Asked to comment on the statements of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Gerapetritis, regarding new information, the president of the Republic of Cyprus said that the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs was referring to the Turkish position and added: “we talk every day with Mr. Gerapetritis and the Greek Prime Minister and I and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This effort – more specifically for the meeting on August 13th – is in collaboration with the Greek Government, with the Greek Prime Minister, with the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs that we have been working for a long time to achieve. Let me remind you that the Greek Prime Minister had seen the Secretary General of the UN in the USA, they discussed about this particular meeting, about what the objective was, how the UN will move, within what framework, the procedural everything, so that it could this meeting took place and the volidoscoping took place within this context”. He also said, when asked about it, that “there are absolutely no differences of opinion or different approaches with the Greek Government”.

Asked, finally, to answer whether the statement about the lack of political bravery concerned Turkey, Mr. Christodoulidis underlined: “of course it concerns the Turkish side and not us. We prove it in practice. All the 14 unilateral measures of the Republic of Cyprus towards our Turkish Cypriot compatriots and the important messages with the participation of the Republic of Cyprus in the April European Council and our constant readiness, either for an informal one-on-one meeting with Mr. Tatar or at the level of negotiators or informal five-party conference, in all of these we see a negative Turkish attitude towards us. But I am not here to engage in a blame game, it is not in our favor – and I want to be clear – even if the lack of progress is on the Turkish side. It is our homeland under occupation and we will continue and do everything possible to achieve the goal of reunification.”