Talks on Crossing Points Have Remained Deadlocked Over Whether to Break Up the Package of Four Locations Agreed After the Geneva Meeting.

President Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday that he told Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman he would say "no" to any confidence-building measures that "normalise the current illegal state of affairs" regarding the Cyprus problem. "We are discussing various issues to do with confidence-building measures. What I mentioned to the Turkish Cypriot leader I also said publicly, that we are ready for confidence-building measures which will strengthen the great effort to reunify our homeland, to resolve the Cyprus problem," he said.

On crossing points, Christodoulides said he and Erhurman had on Wednesday "discussed the issue of the four crossing points" as a package, an idea first devised during the enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem held in Geneva, Switzerland, in March last year. "For our part, during [UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres'] recent visit, we accepted what the secretary-general himself mentioned as a reasonable compromise proposal. At the end of the day, there was no result, but we continue the effort," he said.

Talks on crossing points have remained deadlocked over whether to break up the package of four locations agreed after the Geneva meeting. The Greek Cypriot side proposed removing Louroujina, northwest of Larnaca, from the package, instead opening crossing points near Athienou and in the eastern Nicosia suburbs of Mia Milia and Aglandjia. The Turkish Cypriot side flatly refused to entertain discussions that did not include all four locations.

Christodoulides said "preparatory work has already begun on the basis of the deliverables from the secretary-general's visit here, but also from the visit of [European Commission Cyprus problem envoy Raffaele Fitto]." He noted that UN Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin will soon return to the island "so that through intensive meetings, results can emerge. An "informal milestone" is the UN General Assembly's "high-level week" during the last week of next month, when both leaders will hold separate meetings with Guterres in New York "to inform" him of progress. "From our side, if the need arises, if the secretary-general deems it necessary, an enlarged meeting can also be held.

We are fully prepared in this direction, he said. Asked about "deliverables" by the time he travels to New York, Christodoulides said "we have an obligation... to do everything possible to have deliverables." Guterres said at the end of his visit last month that a new enlarged meeting will be convened "after adequate progress" on confidence-building measures, methodology, and substance. Holguin stressed that implementation of confidence-building measures is an "indispensable condition" ahead of an enlarged meeting involving the island's two sides, its three guarantor powers (Greece, Turkey, the UK), and the UN. "Confidence-building measures should not be seen merely as symbolic steps which improve the atmosphere between the two communities, but rather as practical tools which test the viability of a future political order, she told Turkey's Anka news agency, adding they are "important in demonstrating whether cooperation works in practice.