The Greek Cypriot side has already suggested a “specific date” for a new meeting of President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Friday.

He said that thus far, “no response” has been received from the Turkish Cypriot side, but that “we are waiting, and, of course, as soon as it is set, there will be relevant announcements”.

Asked to comment on recent statements made by Erhurman, in which he had lambasted Christodoulides’ statements on Greece’s independence day as “inconsistent, unfounded and unserious”, Letymbiotis said that “we are not going to enter into a public confrontation, nor are we going to negotiate publicly”.

“We will respectfully continue to position ourselves by putting forward international law, putting forward the constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, putting forward what should be considered self-evident in any other state,” he said.

He added that the Greek Cypriot side “remains committed to the side of the secretary-general pf the United Nations for the definitive resolution of the Cyprus problem on the basis of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, as defined by the resolutions of the United Nations security council”.

“If there is indeed political will, and if we truly want to contribute constructively … we are ready even tomorrow to return to the table of substantive negotiations, and if we truly want to see substantial progress in these efforts, we should demonstrate this through our public statements,” he said.

He went on to say that “our own actions, and much more, our own initiatives, the initiatives of President Christodoulides, from the first moment he took office, demonstrate in practice our sincere commitment to the effort to resume negotiations”.

“In this direction, we will continue, without allowing anyone to distract us from what we have been seeking from the first moment, the substantive dialogue, the presentation of arguments and positions. Because we have absolute faith in the correctness of our positions and our arguments and much more in the pursuit of international law,” he said.

Asked about the possibility of UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin returning to the island, he said that Holguin’s schedule will be “made public by her, by the United Nations”.

He said that Christodoulides has “already mentioned at length” that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wishes “to make the most of the time until the completion of his term”, and that this is “a very positive development which we welcome and to which we will contribute in every possible way”.

Returning to the prospect of negotiations on the Cyprus problem, he said that “we are ready, and have said so many times, to return to the negotiating table, even tomorrow”.

“We believe that there must be developments as soon as possible and the Cyprus issue certainly cannot be artificially on hold. All the preparatory work has been done, all the preparations are continuing on our part, to be as constructive as possible toward the secretary-general’s efforts,” he said.

He also spoke briefly on the prospect of new crossing points being opened between the island’s two sides and said that Christodoulides had “underlined the UN’s mediation proposal regarding the Athienou crossing point”, but that “this was not accepted”.

“Neither was the proposal for a pedestrian crossing point on Lidinis Street,” he said, in reference to Christodoulides’ plan for a new crossing point to be opened in Nicosia’s old town.

Erhurman disputes this version of events, saying that various solutions for the opening of a new road which would connect Athienou and the Nicosia suburb of Aglandjia had been put to Christodoulides, and that it had been Christodoulides who had rejected a series of proposals.

He had said Christodoulides had argued that Greek Cypriots “would not feel safe” driving through the north for an extended period between Athienou and Aglandjia and had instead asked that the road be routed through the buffer zone – a plan which he said would probe “problematic”, logistically, in practice.

Of the Lidinis Street crossing point, Erhurman said Christodoulides’ suggesting of it constituted “nothing more than throwing a spanner in the works and pushing the matter towards an impossible outcome”, given that crossing points which had already been suggested and accepted in principle remain unopened.