The UN Secretary-General remains committed to supporting renewed talks in efforts to reunite Cyprus, and called his first day of separate meetings with President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman as “productive”.
António Guterres said that he would continue his efforts to support a renewed political process, a promise made by all of his predecessors involved in the Cyprus problem, as the United Nations chief heads towards his last year as Secretary-General in 2027.
The UN-proposed plan for Cyprus developed over the years sees a bizonal, bicommunal federation, with equal right for all its citizens.
The Greek Cypriot community is committed to this plan, but hesitant in taking it forward from where peace talks broke off in the Swiss retreat of Crans Montana in 2017.
On the other hand, the Turkish Cypriots have changed tune in recent years, with Turkey saying the federal plan is dead and it now wants two equal sovereign states on the island.
After meeting Christodoulides, Guterres described his trip as a visit of solidarity with the people of Cyprus and said he remained strongly committed to supporting both communities.
“It depends on the Cypriots themselves, but also the guarantors [Turkey, Greece and Britain] have a role to play… I will do everything I can to support the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots in this very important moment”, he said.
Accompanied by his special envoy, former Colombian foreign minister Maria Angela Holguin, Guterres also planned ‘brain storming’ meetings with civil society leaders and community groups committed to a solution that would reunite the island after the 1974 Turkish invasion and occupation of the north.
Prior to his meeting with Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Guterres said the current instability in the greater region made progress on the Cyprus issue particularly important.
“If there is a moment in which the solution of the Cyprus problem is important, it is now,” he said. A settlement, he added, would benefit not only Cyprus but also the wider region of the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Facilitate and support the process
“It is not my role to tell anyone what needs to be done,” Guterres said. “I am here, with humility and full commitment, to support your efforts,” he added, and that the UN could only facilitate and support the process, but not impose a settlement.
Christodoulides said, “we need good news in Cyprus. We need good news in the region. We need good news internationally, and we are counting on your support and your political commitment.”
Guterres also met the Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman later in the afternoon. After the hour-long meeting, he said he remained committed to efforts to resume negotiations. He described his meetings with the two leaders as productive and said he would continue working towards that goal.
Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said the Greek Cypriot side wanted the current diplomatic activity to lead to concrete developments and eventually to a broader UN-led conference at which the main issues of the Cyprus dispute could be discussed.
Such a conference would be expected to involve the two Cypriot sides, as well as the three guarantor powers of Greece, Turkey and the U.K.
On Tuesday night Guterres will host Christodoulides and Erhürman for a private dinner within the UN-patrolled buffer zone before holding a joint meeting with both leaders on Wednesday in order to assess whether the UN sees a realistic path towards the resumption of negotiations.
