President Nikos Christodoulides is seeking a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, he said on Saturday.

The president was commenting two days after speaking on the phone with Guterres exchanging views on the next steps regarding efforts to resume Cyprus peace talks.

“I keep the intention of the Secretary-General to work towards the resumption of the talks,” he told reporters in Limassol.

In this context, there will also be visits to Cyprus.

This is one level at which we are working on, the president said, adding that the other level is that of the EU.

He also noted that he will not engage in a “blame game” with the Turkish Cypriot side.

There is a European Council scheduled for the end of June, there is the NATO summit which will be the first one that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will attend after his re-election. “We are working both at the diplomatic level, but mainly at the technocratic level, to see how the prospects can be created for resuming the talks from where they left off in Crans-Montana,” the president said.

He added that “there are several milestones that are important” in the upcoming European Council.

“Certainly, both on the margins and during the official part of the European Council, I will refer to this readiness [to resume talks], in addition to the other issues that will be on the agenda,” Christodoulides said, reiterating how leaders of EU member states have embraced his proposal for a more active involvement and “are working towards its implementation”.

Asked about the appointment of a UN Secretary General envoy, the president said he cannot speak on behalf of the UNSG on the matter.

The issue of appointing an envoy “was one of the issues we discussed with the SG,” Christodoulides said.

“You know very well that this effort runs into the refusal of the Turkish side. However, we are not resting on the Turkish side’s denial, nor do I want to, nor will I, engage in a blame game. That would be the easiest thing for me to do. What interests me is that through our own initiatives we create conditions for the resumption of the talks.”

As regards the appointment of a EU envoy, the president said there are EU Conclusions that explicitly record that with the resumption of talks the EU is ready to contribute, as it was during the last negotiating process.

“But we are not yet in the talks. Right now the key issue is to break the deadlock and we believe that a more active, more proactive EU involvement can create momentum in this direction,” he noted, explaining that his government knows the facts and difficulties “very well”.

Commenting on statements by Tatar, the president said that “I listen to Mr Tatar every day. I am not going to engage in a blame game.

“I know what Mr Tatar says, I know his positions very well. For me, the easiest thing to do is to shield myself behind the unacceptable statements that are made and do nothing.

“We understand the need to resolve the Cyprus problem – there is no other option, the current situation cannot be the solution to the Cyprus problem – we are doing everything possible and we will not stop until we achieve our goal,” he added.