President blames Tatar for failure to open more checkpoints

President Nikos Christodoulides said that the Turkish Cypriot side had rejected a proposal to open further checkpoints that he put forward, it was reported on Tuesday.

Christodoulides spoke to CyBC in an exclusive interview on Monday night, where he said the Turkish Cypriot side had only suggested opening the Mia Milia checkpoint, while he had proposed that along with Mia Milia another checkpoint be opened in either Pyrgos or Pyroi.

In the interview, Christodoulides said that he had counter-proposed to UN secretary-general’s personal envoy Maria Angela Holguin to have two checkpoints opened at the time, Mia Milia and one more he had proposed.

According to CyBC, the final proposal from the Turkish Cypriot side was for the opening of Mia Milia checkpoint, while the proposal of the Greek Cypriot side was for a parallel opening of Mia Milia and the checkpoint either in Pyroi or in the Pyrgos area.

Christodoulides stressed that he was more interested in creating prospects for the resumption of talks than in blaming the secretary-general’s envoy.

He also clarified that the issue of joint exploitation of Cyprus’ natural resources was never raised with him by any of his interlocutors.

Last month the president had also challenged Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar over the opening of checkpoints.

Christodoulides said that he had submitted a written proposal in relation to crossings to the United Nations, through Holguin, “and unfortunately there was no positive response on behalf of Mr Tatar”.

“If he truly wanted to open this [Mia Milia] crossing,” he added, this could have already been done.