‘An Interesting Discussion’: Cyprus Problem Meeting Begins

The two-day conference, which is being attended by delegations from the island’s two sides, its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and the United Nations, began with an informal dinner at the UN headquarters’ “delegates’ dining room” at 2am Cyprus time.

There were two tables in the dining room. At one was UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, under-secretary-general for peacebuilding Rosemary DiCarlo, and envoy Maria Angela Holguin, President Nikos Christodoulides, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, and the UK’s minister of state for Europe Stephen Doughty.

At the other table was Greek Cypriot chief negotiator Menelaos Menelaou and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Gunes Onar, UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp) chief Colin Stewart, Turkish deputy foreign minister Mehmet Kemal Bozay, and her Greek counterpart Alexandra Papadopoulou.

The meal overran its allotted time, with Christodoulides commenting afterwards that it had gone on longer because “it was a very interesting discussion”.

“Let’s see how things develop tomorrow,” he added.

Meanwhile, Tatar spoke to newspaper Kibris after the dinner, saying that it had been held “in a friendly atmosphere”.

“We are in New York with our constructive and resolute stance,” he said, before stressing the importance of the forthcoming meetings.

“I am attending the summit to protect and defend the interests, benefits, and rights of the Turkish Cypriot people. The interests of my people come first.”

Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric described the meeting as “an opportunity to continue the dialogue and exchange views on the progress made” since the previous enlarged meeting in Geneva in March.

Later on Thursday, bilateral meetings between the attending delegations are expected to be held, before two plenary sessions will take place late on Thursday evening.

Those meetings will likely focus on the issue of potential confidence-building measures, with the matter of crossing points and a potential solar farm in the buffer zone expected to be discussed.

The Turkish Cypriot side is also expected to raise the matter of the arrests made by the Republic of Cyprus of people accused of selling and developing Greek Cypriot-owned land in the north. Tatar has previously described those arrests as “terrorism”.

Sources close to the Cyprus News Agency had said there was “limited optimism” ahead of the enlarged meeting, and that “more progress could have been made” regarding the confidence-building measures which had been agreed upon at the previous enlarged meeting, which had been held in Geneva in March.

On Wednesday, Christodoulides had told Greek newspaper Naftemporiki that “the most decisive role is that of Turkey” with regard to the meeting and the Cyprus problem at large.

“Everyone knows that the decisions on whether the talks will resume and whether the Cyprus issue will be resolved will be taken by Turkey. Therefore, I do not think there is anyone who can claim the opposite, whatever tactics are followed by the Turkish side,” he said.

He then added that “because it is known that the key lies in Ankara”, the international community has “essentially linked any progress in relations between Europe and Turkey to the Cyprus problem”.

“It is important that it has become clear to Ankara that relations between Europe and Turkey can be examined through a positive approach and only through developments on the Cyprus problem in a gradual, proportionate, and reversible manner,” he said.

Meanwhile, Fidan promised “empathy for the other side” during the enlarged meeting, and said its “purpose” is to “discuss how a way forward can be found to benefit both communities” and to “create greater stability for the international community and the region, based on a vision which is based on the realities of the island”.

“We are quite constructive on this issue. Our president [Recep Tayyip Erdogan]’s vision on this matter is very clear. We always act with a win-win formula in mind. We never lose our empathy for the other side, but we cannot accept an equation which disregards Turks and their rights,” he said.

He added that the current status quo on the island has “created an environment where Turks’ rights are disregarded”.

Stewart had briefed the UN security council on Monday, and, according to sources, had spoken of a “deep distrust” between the island’s two sides, adding that this constitutes an “obstacle to any agreement”.

The same sources had said Stewart had told the security council that he considers the “most important problem” to be the “different narratives” on either side of the island. Guterres had alluded to this issue in his latest six-monthly report on the state of Unficyp.

“It is deeply concerning that divisive narratives on the island are often overshadowing those of peace. I remain concerned about the harmful impact of disinformation, which continues to erode trust, polarise communities, and undermine efforts toward a shared and peaceful future,” he wrote.

His latest report was broadly positive, stressing that there had been “no major security crises” on the island in the last six months, and that this “has been observed over the years in which periods of greater dialogue and activity in the peace process also see a parallel restraint from unilateral actions that threaten the security situation”.

There was also positive news over the matter of buffer zone violations, too, with Guterres writing that “a decrease in the occurrence of moves forward and overmanning violations” had been recorded in the first half of the year.