UN Cyprus envoy in Ankara for talks with Turkish top diplomat

ANKARA

A senior U.N. envoy with a special task on reporting about whether there is ground for a new initiative to resolve the decades-old Cyprus problem has held talks with senior Turkish officials in Ankara, including Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, the personal envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, paid her first visit to the Turkish capital on Feb. 8 after her appointment in January. Cuellar had also talks in Greece before arriving in Ankara. She also visited Cyprus and met with both Turkish and Greek Cypriot administrations.

Cuellar, former foreign minister of Colombia, was appointed to this job by Guterres in January after both the Turkish and Greek Cypriot governments greenlighted the move. Her task is to report to Guterres whether there is a basis and willingness on the sides to launch a new effort for resolving the problem on the basis of the U.N. parameters.

Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriots have underlined that her mandate will be limited to six months and won’t be renewed. They also suggest that the U.N. parameters have already expired and a solution for the island should be in line with the new realities, meaning through the acknowledgment of the Turkish Cypriots’ equal sovereignity

Hakan Fidan also met Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu before his talks with Cuellar.