Newsletters
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that he will convene a new five-plus-one meeting on Cyprus involving the island’s rival leaders and representatives of Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom, though no date has been set.
Guterres announced the plan after holding trilateral talks in Nicosia with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Tufan Erhurman and Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides.
“I decided that I would convene another five-plus-one meeting, after adequate preparations on confidence building, methodology and substance,” Guterres told reporters.
He said both Cypriot sides and the three guarantor powers had agreed to proceed with the meeting after sufficient preparation.
The deadline was “not defined,” Guterres said, adding that the parties would work together as quickly as possible.
Guterres said both leaders wanted cooperation and peace on the island but stressed that the U.N. could not impose a settlement.
“The U.N. cannot impose peace, but I want to make it very clear that the U.N. remains fully committed to supporting the people of Cyprus at this vital moment for the island and the wider region,” he said.
Guterres said resolving the Cyprus conflict was essential to protect the interests and peace of the Cypriot people and could provide stability in a region becoming increasingly dangerous and unstable.
He said he was encouraged by the work of the Committee on Missing Persons and the activities of the technical committees.
Guterres also said he was relying on continued support from the three guarantor countries: Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.
Guterres held separate meetings with Erhurman and Christodoulides on Tuesday before Wednesday’s joint session.
The planned talks would be the latest effort to revive negotiations nine years after the last major peace process collapsed in Switzerland in July 2017.
Decades of U.N.-backed negotiations have failed to reunify Cyprus.
The island has been divided since 1974, when Türkiye occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-backed Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece.
Cyprus today consists of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Ankara, and the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, an EU member controlling the island’s majority Greek Cypriot south.
Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom were designated guarantor powers when Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960, with responsibility for protecting the island’s constitutional order during tensions between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
Guterres, whose term as U.N. secretary-general ends at the close of the year, said the new meeting would seek to define the way forward in resolving the conflict.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
