The aim was to achieve as much progress as possible in the reunification negotiations ahead of crucial talks in Switzerland, government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said on Friday.
“Such a development will be helpful in getting a successful result in Geneva,” he said.
Christodoulides said any matters not agreed during the two sides’ meetings on the island would have to close in Geneva where the two leaders will also hold substantive talks on territory and exchange maps.
“It is something we think will judge the result in Geneva to a great extent,” he said. “We need to have as much progress as possible now, in Nicosia.”
Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci are scheduled to meet at least once before the Swiss talks.
On January 9, the two leaders will meet in Geneva for face-to-face negotiations of all outstanding issues, and will be joined there by the three guarantor powers – Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom – as well as “other relevant parties” on January 12 for talks on the problem’s international aspects.
Christodoulides insisted it would be a multilateral and not a five-party meeting – two sides and guarantor powers Britain, Turkey, and Greece – and raising such issues in public discourse was not helpful.
Christodoulides was referring to hardline parties, which claim that the Republic will be absent from the meeting, meaning a victory for Turkey.
“There is no question of the Republic of Cyprus not being represented,” the spokesman said. The meeting “will discuss an international treaty in which the RoC is party. Roc will be present. No decisions can be made on the particular issue without the RoC.”
According to the treaty, Britain, Turkey, and Greece must guarantee the independence, territorial integrity, and security of Cyprus.
The treaty was used by Turkey to invade the island in 1974. The provision calls for action to re-establish the current state of affairs, which, according to Turkey, had been disrupted by the Athens-backed coup to overthrow president Makarios.
It still occupies 37 per cent of the island’s territory.
The Greek Cypriot side wants the treaty abolished, arguing that the island was an EU member and such arrangements were anachronistic.
Turkish Cypriots on the other hand argue that they could not fully trust Greek Cypriots yet because of the intercommunal strife in the 1960s.
Greek Foreign Minister Nicos Kotzias said on Friday that a meeting had been set between the permanent secretaries of the foreign ministries of Greece and Turkey ahead of the Geneva talks.
Speaking to the press following a meeting of the National Council on Foreign Policy which convened on Friday to discuss the Cyprus issue, Kotzias said that Greece must in unity support the Cyprus solution, adding that during the Council’s meeting everyone agreed that Greek government supports a just, viable and functional solution, without foreign occupation troops and guarantees.
