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U.N. Secretary General’s Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart, center, Cyprus’ President Nikos Christodoulides, left, and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar talk as they attend the U.N.’s end of year reception at Ledras Palace inside the U.N buffer zone in the divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Greek Cypriot officials have maintained that the 2017 talks collapsed primarily on Turkey’s insistence on permanently keeping at least some of its estimated 35,000 troops currently in the island’s breakaway north, and on enshrining military intervention rights in any new peace deal.
The U.N. the European Union and others have rejected a two-state deal for Cyprus, saying the only way forward is a federation agreement with Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot zones.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is preparing to host an informal meeting in Switzerland in March to hear what each side envisions for a peace deal. Last year, an envoy Guterres dispatched to Cyprus reportedly concluded that there’s no common ground for a return to talks.
The island’s Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides says he’s ready to resume formal talks immediately but has ruled out any discussion on a two-state arrangement.
Tatar, leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots, said the meeting will bring together the two sides in Cyprus, the foreign ministers of “guarantor powers” Greece and Turkey and a senior British official to chart “the next steps” regarding Cyprus’ future.
A peace deal would not only remove a source of instability in the eastern Mediterranean, but could also expedite the development of natural gas deposits inside Cyprus’ offshore economic zone that Turkey disputes.
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Publish date : 2025-01-08 15:51:00
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