Progress on four of the six points raised by the UN Secretary General was made at today’s meeting at the old Nicosia airport between Cypriot President Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar. This was stated by Nikos Christodoulides on his return, announcing a new meeting with Tatar before Easter.

In his remarks at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, President Christodoulides first noted that today’s meeting was at the initiative of the Greek Cypriot side, following the informal five-party conference in Geneva.

He said that there was indeed progress on four issues and specifically mentioned that “we agreed on the establishment of a Technical Committee on Youth with 12 members from each side. We will recommend the names to the United Nations by April 15.”

The second issue, he said, “is on environmental issues, the Technical Committee on the Environment will discuss specific issues, following up on the input we made in the discussions that took place in Geneva.”

As the Cypriot President said, “the third issue concerns the issue of the restoration of the cemeteries. The Technical Committee on Monuments will proceed.”

He noted that “the fourth issue concerns the de-mining. What was agreed upon is to have an exchange through the negotiators in terms of where we want to do de-mining.”

On the fifth point, that of the roadblocks, President Christodoulides said there has been progress, but no result. As he explained, the discussion was better than last time, there was some progress, but there was nothing to announce, and the discussion will continue at the level of negotiators.

Regarding the last issue, which concerns the issue of energy, President Christodoulides noted that there are some demands, which cannot be accepted by our side, as they go beyond the framework set by the European Union itself, which expressed interest in supporting this effort financially.

President Christodoulides said that, in addition to these issues, he raised two other issues on his own initiative. One, he said, was the issue of the implementation of what has been agreed upon in the mixed village of Pyla and the importance of implementing what was agreed upon, and the second was some specific requests of the Maronite community, which will be considered “and we will see if there is a positive response.”

The President said he asked for another meeting as soon as possible, before Easter, which will be held. “We expect this week, as we have been informed by the United Nations, which is in the bureaucratic processes, to make an announcement in relation to the personal envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.”

Today, he added, all moves and actions by the Greek Cypriot side were taken in the context of what was done and discussed in Geneva, with the sole aim of resuming the talks on the basis of the agreed framework.

“There have been specific references both from my side and from E. Tatar in relation to what we discussed in Geneva and we are here, we know where we want to go, we know where we want to go, we know how to reach our goal and this effort continues,” he said.

Asked where the Turkish Cypriot side’s positions on the energy issue fall outside the European framework, President Christodoulides said that “our position is that any Confidence Building Measures should strengthen the effort to resolve the Cyprus problem on the basis of the agreed framework.”

He added that no MOU, which can be used as an infrastructure or used to strengthen the argument for another form of Cyprus settlement, “and I am obviously referring to the two states, cannot be accepted, and this is the position of the European Union, as expressed in the well-known letter of the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, but also in the specific project that the EU is ready to finance.”

Asked what new developments have emerged on the issue of roadblocks, President Christodoulides said that there was a substantial discussion today. “I explained how important for us is the issue of the Pyroio-Athienou barrier and the issue of the barrier of the Kokkina enclave, with specific references to the distance, with specific answers to concerns expressed,” he said.

He added that there was a discussion, and he said he believes that it was a better discussion than the previous one, when there was a simple denial from the Turkish Cypriot side. “There was a discussion, we had arguments. We even showed specific maps and these will continue, the discussions will continue at the level of the negotiators,” he said.

Asked if E. Tatar is no longer negative, President Christodoulides said he did not want to speak for Mr. Tatar. “But I can tell you that there was a better discussion than last time. We don’t have a positive result, I explained why Pyroe-Athienou is important, why the issue of the Kokkina is important, how the people of the areas will benefit and when we talk about MoUs the whole Cypriot people should benefit. I understand the importance of the barricade of Mias Milia for him, what I asked and explained, I repeat, using a map, is how important these two barricades are,” he said.

Asked if the map he presented was the same map he presented in a previous discussion, the Chairman replied in the affirmative. “Yes, with more specific references, with distances, with how it will work in both cases and in the issue of Pyroi-Athienou and in the issue of Kokkin which is about a very short distance, which will make life much easier for the people of the area,” he said.