Fidan tells UN envoy Türkiye backs two-state Cyprus solution

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' personal envoy on Cyprus that Ankara supports a two-state solution to the island's decades-old dispute, emphasizing that sovereign equality for Turkish Cypriots represents the only viable path forward during their meeting in Ankara.

Sovereign equality emphasized

Fidan received Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar at the Foreign Ministry to discuss recent developments regarding the Cyprus issue, according to diplomatic sources. The two officials reviewed the envoy's contacts last week with the leaders of both communities on the divided island, with Fidan stating that Türkiye — as a guarantor power and motherland — believes coexistence of two states offers the most realistic framework for settlement.

Historical backdrop

The Turkish minister stressed that approaches failing to recognize the inherent rights of Turkish Cypriots — namely their sovereign equality and equal international status based on realities on the ground — would not yield results, the ministry said. Cyprus has remained divided since 1974, when Türkiye intervened militarily as a guarantor power following a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at annexation by Greece, leading to the establishment of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983.

Peace efforts have stalled since a 2017 initiative in Switzerland collapsed despite guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece, and the UK participating in the talks. The Greek Cypriot Administration entered the European Union in 2004 — the same year Greek Cypriots rejected a UN reunification plan in a referendum, leaving the status quo frozen for two decades.