Guterres Says ‘Determined’ to Resume Cyprus Talks

He warned of “deepening geopolitical divisions, raging conflicts and international cooperation under unprecedented pressure”.

In his remarks, Guterres confirmed he will meet the leaders of both communities in New York later this month.

Asked about the prospects for resuming talks, he said: “I am not optimistic, I am not pessimistic; I am determined. I will not give up.”

He said his aim is to keep the mediation channel open and support efforts to restart negotiations.

President Nikos Christodoulides, welcomed Guterres’ statement, expressing satisfaction with the secretary-general’s determination to restart negotiations.

“Beyond my bilateral meeting with the secretary-general, I want to refer to Tuesday’s statement by the UN secretary-general, to welcome the determination he expressed regarding his political will to work for the resumption of talks, and to note that we are ready.

“We have been working from the first moment to create conditions for the resumption of negotiations,” Christodoulides said before a meeting of the council of ministers.

“We are not at the desired goal, but it is important that the seven-year deadlock, as the secretary-general himself noted, has ended.

“A significant initiative is underway, we have reactivated the international factor, and we hope that what we desire will come: the resumption of substantive negotiations and, of course, the resolution of the Cyprus issue on the basis of the agreed framework,” he added.

Christodoulides, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, and Guterres will hold a tripartite meeting on September 27 in New York, which government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis earlier said “once again proves the personal commitment of [Guterres] to the efforts to resume negotiations … within the agreed-upon framework”.

Earlier that week, Christodoulides will address the general assembly on September 24.

Guterres’ envoy for Cyprus Maria Angela Holguin has been on the island in the last few days to meet both leaders and members of civil society to address if there are grounds for negotiations to begin again.

A meeting between the leaders, the UN and the island’s guarantor powers is set to be held later in the year after Turkish Cypriot leadership elections in October.

Guterres also addressed UN reform, acknowledging paralysis in the Security Council due to geopolitical divisions but defending the UN’s wider role in humanitarian aid, climate action, AI limits and fair economic development.