United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is visiting Cyprus to demonstrate his commitment to resolving the island's ethnic division and breaking years of diplomatic paralysis. He began a fresh effort on Tuesday to coax the rival sides back into peace talks after nearly a decade of deadlock.
Guterres held separate and very constructive meetings on July 28 with Cypriot President Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Erhürman. Following these discussions, he reaffirmed his commitment to supporting renewed negotiations.
The Secretary-General announced plans to convene a five plus one multi-party meeting to define the way forward on a conflict that has lasted more than half a century. This meeting will include Greece, Britain, and Turkey, which are guarantor powers of the independence of Cyprus.
Guterres stated that he does not want any more failed five-party meetings. He noted that any new 5+1 meeting requires adequate preparations and progress on confidence-building measures, methodology, and the substance of the Cyprus question.