There is currently no issue of seeking a new Greek Cypriot negotiator, Government Spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday.
Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis is a candidate for the post of President of the UN General Assembly. The election is due to take place in the second half of June, and if Mavroyiannis is successful, he will take over the post at the end of August, Christodoulides said, responding to questions, on the sidelines of a charity basketball game, between members of the presidential palace staff, including ministers, and journalists.
“Until then we will not concern ourselves with this issue,” Christodoulides noted, adding that the negotiators of the two sides were still meeting three times a week.
Asked whether the change in ‘government’ in Cyprus` Turkish occupied areas, appeared to be producing a more hardline rhetoric on the Cyprus problem, the spokesman said that the Greek Cypriot side is following the developments closely, adding that the Greek Cypriot side is not satisfied with the prevalence of groups within the Turkish Cypriot political sphere that do not support the negotiating process.
However it was not the government’s place to engage itself in Turkish Cypriot politics, Christodoulides added
“The Cyprus issue will be resolved at the negotiating table and it is from there that the course of the negotiations will be judged,” he added.
Invited to comment on a press report in “Phileleftheros” daily about a report submitted to the European Commission by the negotiators of the two sides in Cyprus about securing that a settlement of the Cyprus problem will be functional from the first day of its implementation, the spokesman said that this is an issue discussed at the negotiations, after the Greek Cypriot insisted on this.
He noted that in the framework of a visit the two negotiators, Andreas Mavroyiannis and Ozdil Nami, paid to Brussels a couple of months ago, they submitted to the European Commission the issue which must be discussed the soonest possible in the framework of the Technical Committee on EU Affairs, which concern the competencies of the federal government after a solution.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third. President Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have been engaged in UN-led talks since May last year, with a view to reunite the island under a federal roof.