The UN has characterised reports that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres does not want to meet with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias following Geneva talks on the Cyprus issue as “not accurate”, in statements on Monday.
Asked about the talks in Geneva last week and the reports Guterres did not want to be in the same room as Kotzias, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said “that’s not accurate.”
“What I would say is the Secretary General has been dealing and will continue to deal with all the various sides regarding this,” he added.
Haq also referred back to the Secretary General’s statements in Geneva, saying the UN continues to “hope” there will be an agreement.
“Obviously, we want to make sure that this is a lasting and sustainable agreement, and we will work in good faith with all the various sides,” he said.
On Tuesday, Kotzias told Euronews that Turkey’s will to find a solution to the Cyprus issue will be shown at the negotiating table.
In the meantime, following the reports against Kotzias last week, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ office was incited to release a statement that Athens and Nicosia did not have divergent opinions on a Cyprus solution, as regards the security and guarantees chapter.
Additionally, in various statements following the conference on Cyprus, Turkish officials have not shown a change of opinion on the guarantees issue.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey will not cease to be a guarantor power, following statements from Ankara’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who said Greece was not ready to move forward in the discussions opened on security in Geneva.
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