We are not going to engage and respond to the dichotomous rhetoric of some in their country to serve their purposes, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.

President Christodoulides, asked about the meetings of the envoy of the UN Secretary-General, Maria Angela Olgin, with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece, said he has not yet been briefed. “As soon as we have an update, we will also inform the Cypriot society,” he said, adding that “we are in constant coordination with the Greek government. The goals and objectives are common.”

Regarding the date of the expanded (five-party) meeting in New York, he said there are some specific dates in the last ten days of July “that have been mentioned to us and we are waiting for official invitations.”

Asked to comment on a report that the Turkish Foreign Minister spoke to Mrs. Olegin about arrests for usurping Greek Cypriot property in the occupied territories, President Christodoulides said, “I cannot know and I cannot rely on reports. The issue of Ms. Olgin is not about usurpers. Ms. Olgin’s issue is how to achieve positive results in the next enlarged meeting.”

He added, moreover, that “it is through our actions that there is this mobility, that the enlarged meeting in Geneva took place, that a personal envoy of the UN Secretary General was appointed, that a special envoy from the EU was appointed, that there were results in Geneva.”

“The electoral process in the occupied territories, the climate as it is shaping up, the rhetoric of Mr. Tatar that is becoming even more dichotomous, possibly due to the electoral process, these are facts that are not helpful. We are doing everything possible, most of the time away from the limelight, to achieve the goal, which is often nothing more than the resumption of talks,” he said.

Moreover, Nikos Christodoulides underlined that we are in the midst of an election campaign in the occupied territories. “They will follow, as we have already seen recently, a daily dichotomous rhetoric, aimed at serving their own purposes,” he said.

“I want to state officially that we are not going to follow or get involved in any games of serving expediencies that may be aimed and some people may want to achieve, bearing in mind their objectives for this process to take place in the occupied territories,” he said.

We have, he added, “a clear goal, we know where we want to go, we know what we want to pursue, we are focused on that, and for any reports, which I am sure will be amplified, we are not going to go into a daily response to Mr. Tatar.”

Asked to comment on a report in the Turkish Cypriot press about legislation in Britain that would allow direct flights to the occupied territories, the President of the Republic of Cyprus said, “I cannot comment on reports in the Turkish Cypriot press. This issue of direct flights is something that some people are trying to do. The international community has repeatedly taken a position on these issues. Much more so Britain, which is a guarantor power, is a member of the United Nations Security Council.”