UN to host informal talks on Cyprus in Geneva

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will convene an informal meeting in Geneva on Tuesday with the two Cypriot leaders and guarantor powers Greece, Türkiye and the UK in an effort to address the longstanding Cyprus issue.

The meeting, set to take place at the UN Office in Geneva, aims to provide a platform for discussions on the way forward for the divided island.

The participants will first gather Monday evening for a dinner hosted by Guterres for the heads of delegations. The attendees will include Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis and UK Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories Stephen Doughty, along with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar and Greek Cypriot administration leader Nikos Christodoulides.

On Tuesday, the informal discussions will begin with an expanded-format meeting preceded by a family photo. The session will bring together all parties to exchange views and explore potential pathways toward a peaceful resolution of the Cyprus issue.

Tatar will hold a press briefing following the meeting, but no press conference or press stakeout from Guterres is expected at this time.

The meeting follows an informal dinner Guterres hosted with Tatar and Christodoulides in New York last October, during which the decision was made to hold a broader informal gathering bringing together the two leaders, the foreign ministers of the "motherlands" and lower-level officials from the UK as the third guarantor state.

The two leaders have long expressed divergent views on the island's future.

In a recent press briefing, Tatar emphasized that any new agreement for peace and stability in Cyprus can only be achieved through cooperation.

Referring to the 1974 Turkish Peace Operation in Cyprus, he said: "If something is to be done in Geneva for the continuation of peace, security and stability in the wake of 1974, a new agreement can only be reached with the cooperation of the two states."

-Decades-long Cyprus problem

Cyprus has been embroiled in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots despite repeated diplomatic efforts by the UN to reach a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic tensions in the early 1960s led to attacks that forced Turkish Cypriots into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at annexing the island to Greece triggered Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. 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 UN plan to resolve the dispute in a referendum.

In the most recent attempt to break the deadlock, a three-day meeting was held in Geneva in April 2021. However, Guterres concluded that there was still not enough common ground to resume formal negotiations.

"The truth is that at the end of our efforts, we have not yet found enough common ground to allow for the resumption of formal negotiations in relation to the settlement of the Cyprus problem," he said at the time.

As in previous talks, Greek Cypriots maintained their stance in favor of a two-zone federation—the basis of past UN-led negotiations. Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriots insisted on a solution recognizing two separate states.

Summarizing the divide, Guterres noted that Turkish Cypriots believe that efforts to establish a "bizonal, bicommunal federation" have been exhausted and that they now deserve "equal international status" akin to the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot administration in the south.

Greek Cypriots, on the other hand, continue to advocate for a federation "with political equality," arguing that the Turkish position contradicts UN Security Council resolutions on Cyprus.

Guterres acknowledged that neither side was willing to compromise during the meeting.

Guterres said that according to the Greek Cypriot stance, negotiations "should aim to achieve a settlement based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the Joint Declaration of 2014, the existing body of work, the six elements I presented in Crans-Montana, and in line with the EU acquis."

Looking back on past efforts, he said, "we have to admit that there was a collective failure at stitching together a deal in Crans-Montana."