By Ahval,
United Nations-hosted meetings on Cyprus ended in Geneva on Thursday, failing to find common ground between the two sides of the divided island to open formal negotiations.
The U.N. will make a fresh attempt at talks in “probably two or three months”, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in televised comments broadcast by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency.
#Canlı: BM Genel Sekreteri Guterres, Cenevre’deki 5+1 gayriresmi Kıbrıs konferansının ardından açıklamalarda bulunuyor https://t.co/jj0t0JBAlT
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The leaders of Greek and Turkish Cyprus resumed U.N. negotiations this week after a break of almost four years. The foreign ministers of Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, who are guarantor powers for the island’s security, also attended the informal meetings.
A stumbling block emerged in the talks after Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar called for equal recognition for Turkish Cyprus, which is only recognised as a state by Turkey.
Tatar submitted a six-point proposal to the meeting, calling for the establishment of a cooperative relationship based on both sides’ sovereign equality and equal international status, secured by a U.N. Security Council resolution, Bugün Kıbrıs said on Wednesday.
“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,” Guterres said.
Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded in 1974 in response to a brief Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting it with Greece. Numerous diplomatic efforts to reunify the Mediterranean island have failed.
Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades told journalists in Geneva that he was disappointed by what he heard from Tatar, Yenidüzen newspaper said, citing Greek Cypriot media reports.
The biggest chance for reunification failed in April 2004 when the majority of Greek Cypriots opposed a U.N. bizonal, bicommunal model in a referendum a week before the Republic of Cyprus joined the European Union on behalf of the whole island. Turkish Cypriots approved the plan.
Turkey and the pro-Ankara government in Turkish Cypriot-controlled northern Cyprus now reject the U.N.’s long-standing bizonal solution, saying that a series of talks on the model ultimately failed. Instead, they say the north should be given equal status as a legitimate state.
The Greek Cypriot-controlled Republic of Cyprus and Greece strongly oppose the two-state solution. They say the island’s future must be resolved with single sovereignty, single citizenship and single international representation under the U.N.-backed bizonal, bicommunal federation model.
