UN President Guterres is “realistic” in Cyprus talks in Geneva | Antonio Guterres News

Antonio Guterres is discussing the future of the divided island in Geneva this week after a four-year hiatus.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said they were “realistic” about the chances of moving forward in key talks to reunite Cyprus, and called on the Greek and Turkish Cypriot parties to be “creative” in their approach.

The Geneva headquarters on the future of the divided Mediterranean island will begin later on Tuesday.

Guterres invited officials from both Cypriot communities and the foreign ministers of Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom – a former colonial authority in Cyprus – to attend in an effort to restart the peace talks that fell in mid-2017.

The discussion will last three days and may lead to formal negotiations.

Guterres will hold bilateral meetings between the two island communities, followed by talks with all parties on Wednesday.

“The purpose of this informal meeting will be to find out whether there is a specific way for the parties to negotiate a lasting solution to the Cyprus issue,” Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters hours before the talks began.

“It will encourage the parties to be creative and encourage the Secretary-General to use diplomatic language in an honest and frank manner. The reason he invites them is to see if there is a common vision for the future.”

1974 distribution

Cyprus was divided in 1974 between southern Greek Cyprus and northern Turkish Cyprus.

Talks on reunification under the federal umbrella have failed, as required by UN resolutions.

Turkey and Turkey’s Cypriot leader, led by Ersin Tatar and allied with Ankara, have ruled out further discussion of a federation-based deal because it is a “waste of time” because nearly five decades of negotiations on the model have gone nowhere.

Instead, they proposed that it is essentially a two-state model, while the Greek Cypriots said they would not accept it because it would legitimize the division of the country.

The Turkish Cypriot enclave created after the Turkish military invasion is only recognized by Ankara, and the Greek Cypriot administration is internationally recognized as the government of Cyprus.

That invasion came after a coup that sought to unite the island with Greece.

The conflict has caused greater tensions between NATO members in Turkey and Greece over hydrocarbon resources.

The Tartars will present a “new perspective”

Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Tatar said it hoped the two-state solution proposal would bring a “new perspective” to this week’s discussions despite Greek Cypriots already rejecting the idea.

“I am just going [Geneva] to launch my new vision. My new vision is for two sovereign states to live side by side in a good relationship between their neighbors, to cooperate in any way, to promote the well-being of all Cypriots, ”the Tatar told Reuters in a Skype interview on Monday.

“When I say two states, of course I mean the recognition of the Turkish Cypriots,” he added. “We are as independent as the Greek Cypriots.”

If the Greek Cypriot side rejects the two-state formula, the Tatar has said it will continue to pursue the case, along with Ankara, in favor of the sovereignty of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

The Tatars held talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday before traveling to Geneva. Erdogan said Turkey would then “fully accept” the proposal of the two Tatar states.

Cypriot government spokesman Kyriakos Kousios declined to comment on expectations for talks on Tuesday when Reuters asked him for comments.