Newly appointed UN SG`s Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), Elizabeth Spehar, was received on Tuesday by President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades, who briefed her on the state of affairs of the Cyprus talks.
In statements to the press after the meeting, Spehar said that this is an interesting and exiting period for the Cyprus issue, where the leaders `seem very determined to bring a solution to the communities`.
She added she got `a very good briefing` from President Anastasiades on the talks and expressed hope that the two leaders will continue to have the energy and the commitment to reach a solution of the Cyprus issue.
Asked about the prospects of the Cyprus issue during this year, she said that `it seems that a lot of good work has been undertaken by the two leaders and we`ve heard from them directly that they believe that a solution could be in reach this year`.
`So, I can only follow what they say and hope that they continue to have the energy and the commitment to see it through`, she stressed.
Asked if she will adopt a different approach to the talks, she said that the UN do not determine how the talks are done, “this is a leader-led process and so whatever the leaders decide is the way the talks will go`.
“I hope to follow very much in the footsteps of my predecessor, Liza Buttenheim,” she added, noting that Buttenheim did a great job in Cyprus and expressed hope to be able to do as well as her.
Spechar, who arrived in Cyprus on Sunday evening, said that she is very pleased and honored to be in Cyprus and that it was an honor for her to be appointed by the UNSG as his Special Representative and Head UNFICYP and also as a Deputy to the Cyprus talks to support the two leaders.
She recalled that she was briefly in Cyprus in 2008 as an interim SRSG `and it is doubly an honor for her to be in Cyprus again particularly `in such an interesting and exiting period where the leaders seem very determined to bring a solution to the communities`.
UN-led peace talks are currently underway in Cyprus between the leaders of the island`s two communities, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, with a view to reunite the country under a federal roof. Cyprus has been divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion.
