Menelau calls for reconfirmation of Cyprus negotiation achievements

Greek Cypriot negotiator Menelaos Menelau has emphasized the necessity of a full and comprehensive reconfirmation of all negotiation achievements reached up to the end of the 2017 Crans-Montana Conference. He stated that preserving all previous convergences across all chapters is the only way for a new process to focus exclusively on remaining open issues.

In an interview with Kathimerini, Menelau attributed the lack of progress toward an expanded conference not to issues with methodology or confidence-building measures, but to the ongoing stance of Turkey. He noted that the negotiating acquis includes fundamental matters such as security and guarantees, which require constructive contributions from guarantor powers.

Regarding United Nations documentation, Menelau clarified that a document recording convergences is an objective record of where talks were interrupted rather than an interim agreement requiring signature. He also addressed checkpoint disputes, noting that the President of the Republic accepted UN proposals for certain routes, while the Greek Cypriot side proposed including the Kokkino area to maintain balance after Turkish Cypriot requests for specific locations.