The UN Secretary General`s Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer is expected to brief the UN Security Council on Wednesday, during informal consultations, on what has been done in the context of the UN Secretary General`s good offices mission.
Furthermore, the Security Council will be briefed by the UN Secretary General`s Special Representative in Cyprus Lisa Buttenheim on issues concerning the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).
In view of Downer`s briefing, the British delegation has delayed the presentation of a draft resolution on the renewal of UNFICYP`s mandate, scheduled to be adopted on January 28.
During his stay in New York, Downer will meet with UN officials and on Thursday with the representatives of Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, as well as the representative of the Turkish Cypriots.
Since Downer left Cyprus last week, there has been no indication by the UN Secretariat as to how the briefing will proceed.
Sources have said that UN efforts to solve the differences between the two sides in Cyprus regarding a joint declaration for the resumption of talks have not ceased, and that the Turkish Cypriot side had rejected an agreement on a short text. The same sources said Downer was not directly involved in these efforts.
On the other hand, Turkey appears to be forming a distorted picture of the issue at the UN and elsewhere. One such example was US Secretary of State John Kerry asking Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Evangelos Venizelos to persuade Nicosia to accept one of Downer`s proposals for the joint declaration. According to a senior Greek official, Downer had put forward various proposals and, if the Greek Cypriot side accepted one, the procedure could move forward.
Venizelos appears to have put forward the wording of the joint communiqué issued in London after a meeting between President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades and British Prime Minister David Cameron, regarding a single sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international identity.
Diplomatic sources in Nicosia clarified that Downer was merely conveying the proposals of the two sides, with the exception of September 2013, when some ideas he put forward were not accepted by the Greek Cypriot side and, due to the fact that they were proposed by Downer himself, it would seem that the Greek Cypriot side was facing the UN.
The last proposal on the table was submitted by the Greek Cypriot side on December 18 and was rejected by the Turkish Cypriot side. A few days earlier, on December 14, Downer conveyed a proposal by Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davudoglu, which was dismissed.
Sources said the problem was that many persons were speaking on behalf of the Turkish side but in the end their proposals are not approved by Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.
In any case, due to the fact that there appears to be a distorted impression in Washington, contacts will be made on Tuesday in view of Wednesday`s briefing by Downer and discussions for the UNFICYP resolution.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. The latest UN-led efforts to resume the stalled peace talks on Cyprus have so far failed as there has been no agreement on a joint declaration, setting out the basis of a solution. The Greek Cypriot side wants to secure a single sovereignty and single citizenship for Cyprus, something the Turkish Cypriot side opposes.