Guterres announces four new crossing points, new meeting in July

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday announced that a total of four new crossing points will open between Cyprus’ two sides as a result of the enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem which took place in the Swiss city of Geneva.

In addition to the new crossing points, Guterres confirmed that another enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem in the same format, thus with the involvement of the UN, Cyprus’ two sides, and its three guarantor powers Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, will take place in July.

In advance of that meeting, he said, he will also appoint a new envoy to Cyprus in due course.

Asked whether that new envoy would be Maria Angela Holguin, who served as his personal envoy to the island last year, he said the name of his new envoy “has not yet been chosen”.

“Before this meeting, I did not even know if I would be able to appoint an envoy,” he added.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar meanwhile told reporters that “Holguin’s name is being considered”.

Additionally, Guterres announced new demining efforts, the creation of a new bicommunal technical committee on youth, “initiatives on the environment and the impact of climate change”, solar farms in the buffer zone, and the restoration of cemeteries.

Guterres said there was “meaningful progress” achieved in Geneva, and that the talks had been conducted in a “new atmosphere” with a “sense of urgency” demonstrated by all sides.

President Nikos Christodoulides said he wished to “express satisfaction” with the result of the meeting, describing it as “a first important, positive step towards the resumption of talks”.

“This is the big goal, we are not there yet, but, as [Guterres] himself said, it has been an important step,” he said.

He highlighted the planned appointment of a new UN envoy and the scheduling of a new enlarged meeting for July, as well as the joint letter sent to Guterres by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa.

“I believe this defines, without allowing for any different interpretation, doubt, or different approach, the EU’s position in relation to the resolution of the Cyprus problem – something which naturally also touches on the EU’s relations with Turkey and the wishes of Ankara,” he said.

He added that the “great effort is of course not complete today” and that Tuesday only constitutes the start, saying his government “has a plan for how we will continue this course”.

Earlier, Tatar had given a brief press conference, stressing the importance of “resolving the problems experienced in relations between the two communities and establishing a culture of cooperation”.

“Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots deserve much better. We must find a sustainable solution for both our children and future generations,” he said.

He remained steadfast in his support for a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem, adding, “we will not be able to continue negotiations without sovereign equality and equal status”.

Tatar then made a second, longer statement later in the evening, doubling down on his insistence that negotiations can only resume once the Turkish Cypriot side’s sovereign equality and equal international status has been affirmed, adding that “it is not right for the two sides to not be on equal ground in terms of status”.

He added that he had suggested at the meeting the creation of a “Cyprus Cooperation Council”, which he said would “allow for joint work on issues such as energy, electricity, interconnected networks, illegal migration, green energy, climate change, water resource management, and earthquakes”,

The Cyprus News Agency (CNA) corroborated Tatar’s version of events regarding the “Cyprus Cooperation Council”, saying it had been informed by sources that Christodoulides “considers this to be related to issues of sovereignty”.

He reportedly added that he considers the suggestion to be outside the framework of the relevant UN security council resolutions.

Additionally, CNA said it had been informed by sources that Tatar had initially refused to acquiesce to the appointment of a new envoy, and that he was only brought round to the idea following consultations with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Meanwhile, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said that “for the first time since 2017, we are on a trajectory of positive developments”.

“We remain committed to the great effort to reunify Cyprus,” he added.

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis told newspaper Politis that the talks achieved “good news after eight years”.

Turkish Cypriot opposition party the CTP’s foreign affairs spokesman Fikri Toros told the Cyprus Mail that the meeting’s results were “the best I had hoped for”.

“The fact that a roadmap, the appointment of a personal envoy, and a number of confidence-building measures have been agreed upon is progress. It is also a clear sign that all parties needed the continuation,” he said.

Undersecretary of the north’s ‘foreign ministry’ Mustafa Lakadamyali confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that each of the island’s two sides has been given the right to open two crossing points.

He said the Turkish Cypriot side has elected to open a crossing point in the eastern Nicosia suburb of Mia Milia and in the village of Louroujina, which will connect to nearby Lympia.

He added that President Nikos Christodoulides will propose two other crossing points “in the coming period”, but that it is not yet clear where they will be.

“It is understood that they are not the transit passages previously proposed, but two new crossing points,” he said, referring to the previously suggested crossing points near Athienou and Kokkina.

Tatar had earlier protested that those two crossing points were “transit roads” connecting the Republic with other parts of the Republic, rather than crossing points designed to facilitate passage between the island’s two sides.

“We wanted a crossing point at Mia Milia, while the Greek Cypriot side wanted to transit through the Turkish military areas near Athienou and Kokkina. This is unacceptable,” he said in December

The idea of a solar farm had first been put forward by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in 2022.

Her plan entailed the construction of a solar farm which would produce between 30 and 50 megawatts, with von der Leyen saying at the time that the commission had “prepared the ground for the development of a pre-feasibility study”.

“The Commission is active,” she said, adding that she hoped to “establish a bicommunal solar farm, compatible with the technical requirements of both the island’s grids”.

Not everyone was as satisfied with Guterres’ statement with Turkish Cypriot delegation member Mine Atli keen to stress that the matters discussed in Geneva should have been matters for a bicommunal technical committee.

“We are asked to rejoice over initiatives which could have been discussed in Cyprus … These are technical committee issues. What has been done? What was [former president Nicos] Anastasiades’ contribution to this? What was Christodoulides’ contribution to this?

“And every politician who has brought us to this stage where we are using summits to discuss issues that technical committees could have resolved in meetings that lasted a few hours is tragic,” she told the Cyprus Mail.

She added, “we are at a summit where a bicommunal, bizonal, federal Cyprus, or in fact any solution model, is not being discussed.

“This is a tragic turn in history, a tragic time in history.”

On the steps announced by Guterres, she said, “these are not meaningful steps towards improving the lives, the quality of life of Cypriots across the island”.