It is clearly the UN that convenes the international Conference on Cyprus UN Secretary General`s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide has told Government Spokesman Nikos Christodoulides
CNA learned that Christodoulides had asked Eide for clarifications as regards the UN diplomat`s statement during a press conference on Monday in Geneva that Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci decided, together with him to hold the Conference and therefore they have not invited themselves at the Conference but they invited other people. Nicosia`s position is that the international Conference is convened by the UN.
During his conversation with Christodoulides, Eide said that clearly it is the UN which convenes the Conference. “What I said was that there was no need to invite Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci since Nicos Anastasiades, Mustafa Akinci and I jointly agreed to meet here at the dinner on December 1st,” he added.
Furthermore he noted that even when they meet in the UN buffer zone in Nicosia for the negotiations on the Cyprus problem it is the UN that convenes these meetings.
“But when we meet for instance on Thursday and then agree to meet next Monday we do not send a letter of invitation of course,” Eide noted.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Anastasiades and Akinci have been engaged in UN-led talks since May 2015 with a view to reunite the island under a federal roof.
On December 1st, 2016, they decided to continue their negotiations from January 9th to 11th in Geneva, while on January 12th an international Conference on Cyprus will begin.
