Maronite Cypriot non-voting representative in parliament Petros Nacouzi on Friday met United Nations Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin, and after the meeting said that for his community “the resolution of the Cyprus problem is directly linked to the return to our villages”, the majority of which they fled after 1974.

Additionally, he said his community links a solution to the Cyprus problem to “the protection of our cultural and religious heritage and the ability of younger generations to maintain a living connection with their roots”.

“The voice of the Maronites must be heard, and our needs and rights must be substantively taken into account in any effort regarding the future of Cyprus,” he said.

He added that “at the same time, it remains essential to promote practical measures which improve daily life in the four Maronite villages and support our residents and displaced persons”.

“We are continuing with consistency, realism, and persistence, working towards a peaceful Cyprus which offers security and prospects for all,” he said.

Maronites have received fervent support from Bagimsizlik Yolu

In recent times, the most fervent backing for the Maronite Cypriots’ cause has come from Turkish Cypriot anarcho-communist political party Bagimsizlik Yolu [Independence Path], which in August said that “the longstanding, unresolved issue of the return of the Maronites to their villages could serve as a constructive confidence-building measure”.

“As is known, the return of Maronites to their villages reached its final stages during the tenure of the four-party government led by Tufan Erhurman as its prime minister,” between 2018 and 2019, it said.

However, it added, the matter was “subsequently shelved under the pretext of pursuing a ‘comprehensive solution’”.

It said that now, “the ‘Maronite initiative’, which entails the demilitarisation of three villages and the return of their inhabitants, could be brought about through unilateral steps taken by the Turkish Cypriot side”.

“Consultations with the military regarding such an initiative had previously taken place, and the necessary funds had even been allocated in the budget, yet the process was suspended for no reason,” it said.

‘The Maronites are not a party to the Cyprus conflict’

It then added that “the Maronites are not a party to the Cyprus conflict”, but instead “a minority community which has been among those most severely affected by the tensions and clashes between the two main communities”.

“If Tufan Erhurman, who claims to attach importance to confidence-building measures, wishes to present this issue as a positive example for all peoples living in Cyprus, he should approach it not by asking ‘what can I gain?’, but by asking, ‘what can I do to build confidence?’,” it said.

Additionally, it said, “the restoration of three Maronite villages … would serve as a powerful demonstration, directed at the Greek Cypriot authorities who have treated the Turkish Cypriots as a mere minority, that the Turkish Cypriot community is, in fact, a democratic society which has embraced multiculturalism”.

President Nikos Christodoulides on Friday said that “progress is possible” on the Cyprus problem, as he evaluated the meeting he held with the United Nations’ Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin earlier in the day.

“It was a very good meeting, during which the 19 points we submitted were discussed, along with other ideas on how to generate positive news, positive developments, which could lead to the resumption of talks from the point at which they were interrupted in the summer of 2017,” he said.

He added that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the next steps following his meeting with Holguin, before adding that it would be “really beneficial” if “more than one” meeting involving himself, Holguin, and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman could be scheduled during Holguin’s current visit to the island.

“We now await her meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader on Monday to see how to proceed. I believe, and I reiterate, based on our discussion, that I am, quite justifiably, cautiously optimistic,” he said.

Asked about the matter of convergences reached in prior negotiation processes and the UN’s creation of a document recording them, he said that “I do not wish to disclose any substantive details”.

“We are at a critical juncture, involving critical processes. Let us take a note of the fact that, justifiably, based on what has been discussed, we are cautiously optimistic, and we are hoping that this optimism, this cautious optimism, will translate into concrete, positive results,” he said.

Holguin: Convergences document will be presented when negotiations begin

Holguin had previously said of the convergences document that “the United Nations has reviewed several documents that may prove useful when the parties decide to resume formal negotiations”.

Regarding their details, she stressed that “this compilation will be presented when negotiations begin” and will not be released beforehand.

This decision, she said, was made because the UN’s position is that “we will not introduce anything that could give rise to further debate and serve to trigger further setbacks”.

Of Friday’s meeting, she said that she remains optimistic over the prospect of an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem being held before the end of the year.

“Yes, I am optimistic … If there are some advances in the [confidence-building measures], in methodology, and in some substance, and if we can get this, we are going to have the 5+1,” she said, with the term “5+1” used to describe an enlarged meeting involving the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN.

Regarding Friday’s meeting and her planned meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, she said that “we are pushing and continue pushing”, and that “this is what the secretary-general asked of me, is until the last minute of his mandate, he wants to see if we can move forward on the Cyprus issue”.

Incumbent UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will leave office at the end of the year, with it still not yet clear who will replace him. It was Guterres who had first that enlarged meeting will only be achieved “after adequate progress” is achieved on confidence-building measures, the meeting’s methodology and the substance of the talks.

United Nations Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin said that she remains optimistic over the prospect of an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem being held before the end of the year, after she met President Nikos Christodoulides at the presidential palace.

“Yes, I am optimistic … If there are some advances in the [confidence-building measures], in methodology, and in some substance, and if we can get this, we are going to have the 5+1,” she said, with the term “5+1” used to describe an enlarged meeting involving the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the UN.

Regarding Friday’s meeting and her planned meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, she said that “we are pushing and continue pushing”, and that “this is what the secretary-general asked of me, is until the last minute of his mandate, he wants to see if we can move forward on the Cyprus issue”.

Incumbent UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will leave office at the end of the year, with it still not yet clear who will replace him. It was Guterres who had first that enlarged meeting will only be achieved “after adequate progress” is achieved on confidence-building measures, the meeting’s methodology and the substance of the talks.

Holguin on Friday made no reference to efforts to choose Guterres’ successor, focusing instead on the content of her meeting with Christodoulides, which she described as “good”, before saying that she had wished to “listen from Christodoulides about his meetings with Tufan”, which have been taking place on a weekly basis since the summer.

Of those weekly meetings of Cyprus’ two leaders, she said that “I think it has been very good that they have these kinds of meetings together and I would still hope to see if we can [achieve] something”.

“We are going to have a trilateral meeting on November 9 and … I am here, I am an optimist, and I hope we can get something next week,” she said.

Leaders took vow of silence on Cyprus problem after Tuesday

The two leaders most recently met on Tuesday, and said after that meeting that both he and Erhurman had “agreed not to make further statements regarding specific issues” related to the Cyprus problem until Holguin’s arrival at the earliest.

Both men had also met the bicommunal technical committees on cultural heritage and on youth, as well as the civil society steering committee, following their one-on-one meeting.

Of those meetings, Christodoulides said that they were “constructive” and that “various views and suggestions were put forward” by committee members.

He added that those suggestions will be discussed by himself and Erhurman going forward.

Christodoulides insists Varosha proposal is ‘mutually beneficial’

Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Christodoulides had stressed that his proposal to open and repopulate the fenced-off area of Varosha under the United Nations’ administration and open the port of Famagusta under the European Union’s control is “mutually beneficial”.

“I believe this is a mutually beneficial proposal. It creates a positive situation for both sides and serves as a practical test of whether we are truly committed to moving forward, specifically by taking bold confidence-building measures which also send a strong message to society as a whole,” he said.

Erhurman had said last week that he had rejected the proposal, lamenting that it fell short of an entry into force of the European Union’s direct trade regulation.

“Is this the entry into force of the direct trade regulation? No, it is not the entry into force of the regulation, but since [the port] would be under EU control, direct trade would begin,” he said.

As such, he said, the proposal was unbalanced.

The direct trade regulation is a pending EU regulation which would allow Turkish Cypriot goods, as certified by the Turkish Cypriot chamber of commerce, to be exported directly into Europe via the Green Line, and given preferential treatment inside the European single market as European goods.

It was proposed in July 2004, three months after the rejection of the Annan plan to reunify Cyprus by the Greek Cypriot side in a referendum, and shortly after the Republic of Cyprus’ accession to the EU.

Menelaou had cited progress on crossing points

Previously, Greek Cypriot chief negotiator Menelaos Menelaou had said that a dispute over the routing of the planned transit road between Athienou and the Nicosia suburb of Aglandjia “has been overcome”.

He said that the outstanding dispute now remains over the question of whether a planned crossing point to connect Louroujina, the southernmost Turkish Cypriot village, with nearby Lymbia, will open at the same time.

The Turkish Cypriot side’s position is that the road between Athienou and Aglandjia constitutes two crossing points, one in Athienou and one in Aglandjia, and that they are part of a package of four alongside plans for a crossing point in the eastern Nicosia suburb of Mia Milia, and one in Louroujina.

However, the Greek Cypriot side treats the road between Athienou and Aglandjia as one crossing point, counterweighted by the Mia Milia crossing point, and is therefore of the view that the Louroujina crossing point should only be opened if a second transit road, through the Turkish Cypriot Kokkina exclave in the Tillyria region, also be opened.

UN envoy for Cyprus Maria Angela Holguin is currently in Cyprus and will be meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides on Friday at 12.30pm.

Holguin will also be meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Monday, and hold a tripartite meeting with both Christodoulides and Erhurman on November 9.

On Tuesday, Christodoulides said both he and Erhurman had agreed to make “no further statements” on matters of substance related to the Cyprus problem ahead of Holguin’s trip.