UN chief to appoint a new envoy for next 5+1 Cyprus meeting
ANKARA
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has informed that the Turkish and Greek Cypriots have agreed to hold another meeting in late July in the same 5+1 format, stressing that the Geneva meeting has yielded “meaningful progress.”
Guterres organized a brief press conference following two-day expanded Cyprus meeting with the participation of the two sides as well as three guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.
The Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders, Ersin Tatar and Nikos Hristodulidis agreed on a few confidence building measures, Guterres said, recalling that there was not any progress on the problem since 2017 Crans Montana talks.
The U.N. chief said that he will appoint a new special envoy for the preparations of the next 5+1 format meeting in late July, describing all these results as meaningful progress
The Geneva meeting yesterday brought together the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaders, along with representatives from the three guarantor states, Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom. The informal discussions began with an expanded-format meeting. The session brought together all parties to exchange views and explore potential pathways toward a peaceful resolution of the Cyprus issue. On March 17, Guterres also sat down to dine in Geneva with Tatar and Christodoulides. The Cyprus dispute has persisted for decades, with the island remaining divided since 1974 following a Gree- backed coup and Türkiye’s subsequent military intervention.
As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was established in 1983. There has been an on and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, under the auspices of the guarantor countries. The Greek Cypriot administration joined the European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N. plan to resolve the dispute in a referendum. In the most recent attempt to break the deadlock, a meeting was held in Geneva in April 2021. However, Guterres concluded that there was still not enough common ground to resume formal negotiations.
