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Foreign ministers

Cyprus Stakeholders Hold Enlarged Talks in New York, Focusing on Confidence-Building Measures and Buffer Zone Issues

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Stakeholders in the Cyprus issue held a series of meetings in New York, culminating in a final plenary discussion of all parties, hosted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The enlarged talks, which began on Thursday, involved the heads of the participating delegations, including President Nikos Christodoulides, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, and foreign ministers from Greece, Turkey, and the UK. The discussions centered on potential confidence-building measures, with a focus on crossing points and a proposed solar farm in the buffer zone.

Key Takeaways:

  • The two-day conference in New York aimed to keep the peace process alive by exploring confidence-building measures, including crossing points and a solar farm in the buffer zone.
  • President Nikos Christodoulides stressed the Republic of Cyprus' readiness to restart substantive negotiations from the point where they left off in 2017, underlining its commitment to UN Security Council resolutions concerning Cyprus.
  • Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar emphasized the need to end the "unjust isolation" of the Turkish Cypriots and proposed a road map based on political equality and equal status.
  • The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, stated that the status quo on Cyprus "is not viable" and emphasized the importance of confidence-building measures.
  • The meeting also addressed issues such as the arrests made by the Republic of Cyprus of people accused of selling and developing Greek Cypriot-owned land in the north, with Tatar describing those arrests as "terrorism".

Statistics:

  • The meeting involved the heads of the participating delegations, including President Nikos Christodoulides, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, and foreign ministers from Greece, Turkey, and the UK.
  • The two-day conference in New York is the second enlarged meeting of the year, following a similar meeting in Geneva in March.
  • The Republic of Cyprus is set to assume the presidency of the Council of Europe in January 2026.

Sources:

  • United Nations [1]
  • Greek News Agenda [2]
  • TRHaber [3]
  • Turkiye [4]

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