FM Venizelos meets with Espen Barth Eide, UN's special envoy on Cyprus

"I set out for him Greece’s positions on the Cyprus issue, which are firm, well known, very clear. We agreed to be in collaboration, and I await his visit to Athens, Venizelos said following meeting, "For us, the solution to the Cyprus issue can be only a viable and functional solution that is accepted, via referendum, by the Cypriot people, the two communities."

In addition, he said that the solution "must be accepted, democratically, by the people themselves," and must be in accordance with the UN resolutions, the high-level agreements, the joint Communique of February 2014 and the European community acquis. "We must ensure the international legal entity of the Republic of Cyprus, which is a safeguard not only for the Greek Cypriots, but for the whole of the Cypriot people, for all of the citizens of the Republic of Cyprus,” he added.

On his part, Eide said that some very constructive ideas were being developed currently, which were hoped to add a new dynamism to a very long-term issue. He said that "we are now moving to the substantive structured negotiations on Cyprus and I am happy that Greece is supporting the efforts."

He said that "although the Cyprus issue has divided Cyprus, in New York it is seen uniformly, in the sense that the UN Security Council has a single viewpoint," which he said included support for the resolution through negotiations for the reunification of the island. "This is significant," he added, "because although there are disagreements on other issues, such as Ukraine and Syria, on the Cyprus issue the five members of the Council are united."

International support is important, he said, but the support of both communities on Cyprus was even more so, and said he had been in contact with several people, including religious leaders.