Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides has told UN envoy María Ángela Holguín of his “strong dissatisfaction” at her meeting with Turkey’s ambassador to the occupied north, Cyprus Mail reported on Tuesday.
Holguín, the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Cyprus, met Ali Murat Başçeri earlier on Tuesday. She then saw Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace, at her own request, according to the Cyprus News Agency.
The meeting at the palace lasted only 30 minutes.
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As she left, Holguín said she had specific questions to put to the President and preferred to raise them in person rather than by telephone.
“Unacceptable”
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said the meeting with Başçeri conflicts with UN Security Council Resolution 550. He called it “unacceptable” and “an unfortunate moment”.
“United Nations officials, United Nations representatives, should operate based on the Security Council resolutions,” he said, as quoted by Cyprus Mail.
Resolution 550, adopted in 1984, condemned the exchange of so-called ambassadors between Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership in the occupied north, which only Ankara recognises.
Ankara “wanted to pass on a message”
Letymbiotis said the explanation given was that Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mehmet Kemal Bozay had arranged the meeting so that a message could be passed on to Holguín. “The explanation given is that it was requested by the Turkish side in order to pass on a message,” he said, according to Politis.
“In any case, it was an action we consider unacceptable and an unfortunate moment,” he added.
Joint meeting on 9 November
Despite the row, Letymbiotis said Holguín’s contacts would continue and that the two sides would move towards a joint meeting on 9 November.
“The real will and the real intention are evaluated through reaching agreements,” he said. Politis reported that he also saw room for progress ahead of that meeting.
Holguín has been trying to revive the stalled UN process on Cyprus, which has been divided since Turkey’s 1974 invasion. Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership continue to push for a two-state solution, which Nicosia and the UN reject.
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Featured image: The Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus. Photo: Iakovos Hatzistavrou, European Commission / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
