UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor for Cyprus Alexander Downer said Thursday he will prepare his report to the UNSG late next week and if his report is positive, Ban Ki – moon will call a multilateral conference on the Cyprus problem this Spring.
In statements after the conclusion of a meeting held between the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, President of Cyprus Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, on the Cyprus talks, Downer said that if his report to the UNSG is negative, then the UN will decide on the next steps.
He said that the two leaders met for just less than two hours focusing their discussions in particular on the chapter of properties.
“We had a little bit of a talk about the way ahead as well, by that I mean that next week there won’t just be a leaders’ meeting which will be next Thursday but there will also be representatives’ meetings next week and they will be particularly focusing on the property issue as well”, he continued.
Referring to the event that the UN Secretary General convenes an international conference on the Cyprus problem, Downer said that for the UN the term international conference is the same as multilateral conference and recalled UNSG’s words last January.
As he said, Ban Ki – moon, on the 26th of January said that if Downer’s report is positive, “consistent with the relevant Security Council resolutions and following consultations with the two sides I intend to call a multilateral conference late April or early May”.
“My job is to produce an objective report to the SG. In the middle of April I will be in New York I will be meeting with him and we will discus the report and he will consider the situation then”, he added.
According to Downer, the multilateral conference will be called by the UN SG “if my report is positive”, adding that there need to be convergences on the core issues in particular in the areas of governance and power sharing and property.
“And if the report is positive the UNSG would call a multilateral or international conference. If the report is negative then the UNSG and I will sit down in the middle of April and will have to think about what to do next”, he pointed out.
Replying to questions, Downer said that “I will be deciding whether the report is positive or not, because I will be writing it, it’s my report and I will be deciding in the end of next week and not prematurely”.
He said that tomorrow he will be going to Brussels to hold a series of meetings on the sidelines of the EU Council of Foreign Affairs. There, he said, he will meet with the Foreign Ministers of Greece and Turkey as well as with the Foreign Secretary of the UK and other Foreign Ministers. In addition, he will meet with EU Commissioner for the Enlargement, Stefan Fule and his team.
“Next week I will be here. At the end of next week I will write the report and I will decide then whether it is to be a positive report or less than positive report”, he said.
Downer recalled a saying by former Prime Minister of the UK, Harold Wilson, who said that “a week is a long time in politics”.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. The latest round of UN-led talks has been underway since 2008 with an aim to reunify the island under a federal roof.
At the end of March, UN SG Special Advisor on the Cyprus issue Alexander Downer is expected to brief the UN Security Council via teleconference on progress so far at the talks and then to submit a report to that end to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.