UN (AP) – The head of the United Nations said on Thursday he hopes to meet with leaders of his divisive rivals in Cyprus, while Turkish Cyprus leader said he was “very, very frustrated” and had no consensus on opening four new border crossings.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the meeting “constructive” and pointed out four progress in the six initiatives agreed by the leaders in March. But, he warned: “There is a long road ahead.”
In 1974, Turkey invaded the Mediterranean island after supporters of the Athenian government united with Greece. Türkiye is only aware of Turkey’s Declaration of Independence, which maintained more than 35,000 soldiers in the third place in the north of the island.
Negotiations between competitors have been stagnant since 2017. When asked if he would start a new round, Guterres replied that there was more to do before negotiations. He said the current negotiations were “complex”, which emphasized the views of the Greek Cyprus on the solution.
“I think we are gradually building, confident, and creating conditions for having specific things to benefit Cypriots,” the Secretary-General said.
The agreed framework for the unaccredited peace agreement is the federally unified Cyprus composed of the Greek Cyprus and the Turkish Cyprus region.
Turkish Cyprus leader Ersin Tatar has been demanding a deal between the two states since the 2020 election. He faced re-election in October and said he was running on the same two-country platform and received full support from Ankara.
After the meeting, Tatar told reporters, “Unless our sovereign equality and international status of equality are reaffirmed, we will not formally negotiate to resolve the issue of Cyprus.”
Greece-Cyprus rejects any agreement to formally subdivision, fearing that Turkey will seek control of the entire island in light of its demand for permanent force presence and military intervention in Cyprus. Türkiye also insists that Türkiye’s Cyprus minorities should have veto power over all federal government decisions.
After the meeting, Greek Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides did not speak to journalists, including guaranteeing the country’s foreign ministers of Türkiye and Greece and the United Kingdom’s deputy ministers.
Although Cyprus’ future is different, competitors have made some progress in trust-building measures.
Guterres told reporters that four initiatives have been achieved: the establishment of a youth technical committee; initiatives on environmental and climate change, including impacts on mining areas; cemetery restoration; and agreements on Demining, where technical details still need to be determined.
He said the discussion will continue to open four new border crossings between the Greek and Turkish sides of the island and between the buffer solar energy between them, which was patrolled by UN peacekeeping forces.
Tatar accused Christodoulides of insisting on Thursday that one of them crossed the buffer to prevent four crossings from announcing the news, which he said was unacceptable to Turkish Cypriots.
He also strongly criticized Greek Cypriots for taking legal action on the sale of property in northern Cyprus, Turkey, saying the moves “definitely damage the relationship between the two and are intended to harm our economy and tourism.”
In Cyprus, property rights are a controversial issue. The recent boom in building luxury villas and apartments in the north has prompted Cyprus legal authorities to take a more confident stance against real estate agents and developers, making what they call the massive “illegal usurpation” of Greek Cyprus land.
Guterres said the meeting also had an understanding of consultative bodies participating in civil society, exchange of cultural relics, an initiative on air quality monitoring and addressing micropollution.
The Secretary-General said Tatar and Christodoulides agreed to meet with him at the annual gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly in late September and another informal meeting later this year.
