Leaders brief political parties on Berlin meeting

President Nicos Anastasiades informed the National Council on Wednesday night about his meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci in Berlin last week, deputy government spokesman Panayiotis Sentonas said.

“The meeting was held in a constructive climate.  During the meeting, the president informed the member of the national council about the meeting in Berlin in detail,” said Sentonas.

He added the president reiterated his ‘true willingness’ and the decisiveness of the Greek Cypriot side to restart negotiations.

The political party leaders did not comment on the meeting.

Last week, in the German capital, the UN chief announced he would continue efforts to achieve a baseline to serve “as a consensus starting point for phased, meaningful, and results-oriented negotiations at the earliest feasible opportunity”.

He also committed to explore with the two leaders and the guarantor powers the possibility of convening an informal five-plus-UN meeting at an appropriate stage.

Earlier in the evening on Wednesday, Akinci also informed the Turkish Cypriot parties about the results of the Berlin meeting.

Akinci said a five-party meeting with the guarantors is not expected to be held soon due to the ‘elections’ in the north, the elections in the UK, and because Turkey has rejected any such conference.

Ahead of the Berlin talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey was not prepared to negotiate under the current conditions.

“We will not sit at the negotiating table again just for the sake of negotiating,” he said.

The Turkish foreign minister added that they have told their interlocutors that before a new negotiating procedure can start “all vagueness regarding political equality between the two sides must first be clarified.”