NICOSIA, 15 June 2017 - The Special Adviser of the Secretary-General (SASG) on Cyprus, Mr. Espen Barth Eide, met today with the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr. Mustafa Akıncı, in Nicosia. SASG Eide is scheduled to meet with the Greek Cypriot leader, Mr. Nicos Anastasiades, on 16 June 2017. Speaking to the media following the meeting with Mr. Akıncı, Mr. Eide said: “So much has happened over the last few weeks – you know most of that. We had a very important meeting in New York, almost two weeks ago now, with Secretary-General Guterres, where the two leaders, Mr. Akıncı and Mr. Anastasiades, were together. You saw the statement that came out of that; that they agree to reconvene the Conference on Cyprus, agree to go back to Geneva with the ambition to solve all outstanding issues. Since then, I’ve been in almost constant contact with almost all the participants in addition to the two sides, of course with Turkey, Greece, the United Kingdom and the European Union as an observer, as well as ongoing contact with the Secretary-General and the top leadership of the UN. There is a serious determination to make this as successful as possible; it’s 13 days to go… it will start on Wednesday the 28th of June; it will go on for the time it takes – we’re planning for a few weeks, but that of course depends on developments, and it has to be well prepared. Our work now goes along a more practical and logistical route on the actual convening and the details, which are of course very important in order to get it right, but also on the substance. While we are there, all issues will be on the table; all issues will be discussed interdependently. But there is of course one chapter which requires particular emphasis now, simply because of the two reasons you all know: one is that it has been less discussed than the other chapters, and the other is because it pertains to all the participants, and that’s why we need to also come well-prepared there. We are now well underway in [developing] a document, which has been discussed a lot in the media here, and I want to say a few words about that. This document will be based on the inputs that we already got in the last Mont Pèlerin meeting – from all sides – on security and guarantees, but it will also be based on the inputs we’re getting now, including right now, in this meeting, and tomorrow, with Mr. Anastasiades, and in the conversations I’ve been having with the guarantor countries and also with the EU. It will be a compilation of positions that they have, ideas that they have, which we will try to structure and make into something that can be the basis for discussions, but it’s not proposing [a] UN proposal; you will not find the settlement to the Cyprus problem in that document, because we’re not going to do the negotiations before the negotiations start – that would be impossible, and both sides have been very clear in saying that they don’t want that. They want a negotiation to take part in, in Geneva, but in order not to go into an empty room and say ‘where should we start?’, we’re trying to help interacting with them to find out where we start and how we develop the argument. …Make no mistake, this is going to be very difficult; there are no easy solutions – the country has been divided for generations, and there’s a reason why – but I also think it’s doable. The real ingredients we need from all involved – meaning the two sides here and the guarantors – and everybody else involved, is vision, determination, will and leadership. And that determination, that will, has to include a willingness to think outside the box, and to think fresh thinking, to be honest with each other with what is really needed, to try to respect that there are more truths than my truths; my truth is truth, but there may be another truth as well, because different people have different experiences, and how can we deal with this together so that we can all be secure, all be confident that the new structure will work, but without trying to seek our security in such a way that it creates the insecurity of the other side, as was the statement from the original Conference. So, hard work – I will be here, I will be constantly interacting with all the parties, and we’re well underway. We will work as long as it takes, and of course, when we finally have the document then the focus will be on more of the practical side of the Conference. We will be working, in principle, till we’re there.”