The new effort of the UN Secretary General for the Cypriot has already started since the beginning of March and is ongoing, said the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulidis on Monday.
Arriving at the premises of the new “Dr. Artemis Hatzipanagis” Teaching Building for Medical and Biological Sciences, where he will celebrate the inauguration, the President was asked about the new violations of the neutral zone by the occupying regime.
“We are in contact with the United Nations. There is an increase in these violations, which are carried out with a double objective: on the one hand, to challenge the dead zone, and it is important that there is this reaction from the United Nations. But we want to see results. We are not satisfied and we are not satisfied with the verbal reaction or reactions that do not return the situation to the previous state of affairs. Secondly, it is a prudent attempt to create even further problems in the new effort started by Secretary general of the United Nations,” he said.
President Christodoulidis went on to state that he himself had publicly stated, after his meeting with the UN Secretary General in Brussels, that the Secretary General was starting a new effort. “So there is a conscious policy by some to create problems, to create further difficulties in this effort of the Secretary General,” he said.
Answering another question, the President reiterated that the aim of the violations committed by the occupying regime is twofold. On the one hand, the questioning of the dead zone and resolution 186/1964 and the attempt from the Turkish side to sign a separate agreement (of the United Nations) with the occupying regime. “I discussed all this recently with (UN Deputy Secretary-General Jean-Pierre) Lacroix. There is no such case.”
The President noted that the Government operates on two levels. On the one hand, at the level of the United Nations, and on the other hand at the level of the EU. “In all of this it is clear that the responsibility belongs to Turkey and that is where the efforts of both the United Nations and the European Union are focused,” he said.
Answering a question about the UN Secretary General’s new effort on the Cyprus issue, the President of the Republic said that the new effort already started after the meeting of the Secretary General with the Turkish President in Turkey, which was before the meeting he himself had with him in Brussels, i.e. at the beginning of March 2026.
“The new effort will not start in July,” he said when asked to comment on the Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhiurman’s statements. “The necessary preliminary work is being done both at the level of the Secretary General, but also at the level of the personal envoy “whom I do not rule out her arrival in Cyprus. We are in contact so that data can be created, on the basis of which the Secretary-General can convene an expanded conference with the aim of resuming talks,” he said.
Asked about his meeting with Mr. Erhiurman, he said that some dates have been proposed and an official announcement is expected within the next twenty-four hours.
Some tried to prevent al-Sharaa from participating in the informal Council
Besides, the President of the Republic was also asked about the presence of the leader of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa in Cyprus, in the context of the informal European Council. President Christodoulidis noted that this was not the first contact with him. “The Secretary of State was the first Secretary of State to visit Syria. Syria is a neighboring state to the Republic of Cyprus. In the context of our efforts to bring the European Union closer, of course Syria is included,” he said.
He noted that he considers his presence in Cyprus important. “I consider it important to accept our invitation. Although I had some information that some tried to prevent him from attending the informal European Council, he chose to be here, he spoke publicly, he raised during the discussions how he sees the developments in the European Union’s relations with Syria, and we, as the European Union member state in the region, continue to play an essential results-oriented role. This is what interests us. The results,” he said.
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