South Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Tuesday evening meets UN chief Antonio Guterres in New York ahead of a trilateral meeting on Monday that also includes North Cyprus President Ersin Tatar.
The meetings aim towards paving the way for the resumption of UN-brokered reunification talks but Anastasiades has expressed little optimism the prolonged Cyprus problem’s settlement is just around the corner.
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He told reporters covering the ongoing 76th session UN General Assembly he is slightly pessimistic because the Turkish Cypriot side continues to insist on its unacceptable demand for sovereign equality and a two-state solution.
And this leaves no room for optimism since the divided islands should be based on the UN resolutions and high-level agreements on Cyprus. These provide for a bi-communal bi-zonal federal state.
Anastasiades also said that he had written to Guterres on August 30, expressing his readiness and decisiveness in meeting the Secretary-General and Tatar.
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Such a meeting, he added, will provide the opportunity to develop his position which may help – if there is goodwill from the other side – to restart a constructive dialogue that will lead to a solution to the Cyprus problem.