UN Committed to Cyprus Problem Resolution, Says Under-Secretary-General

The United Nations remains committed to resolving the conflict between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities in Cyprus, Rosemary A. DiCarlo, the UN under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, said on Wednesday. DiCarlo made the statement after meeting separately with the leaders of the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities in the divided capital of Nicosia.

After her meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, DiCarlo emphasized the commitment of UN Secretary-General António Guterres to a resolution of the Cyprus problem and discussed the prospects of resuming negotiations to that end. Tatar said that his vision for two separate Cypriot sovereign states must be accepted before negotiations could restart.

DiCarlo also met with Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides, who assumed office as the new Cyprus president on February 28. Christodoulides said that he had requested a meeting with Guterres to explain a plan for the European Union’s close involvement in resolving the Cyprus issue.

The UN has been involved in the Cyprus peace negotiations for almost 50 years. However, the process has been stalled since the collapse of a UN-led international conference in Switzerland in 2017, which aimed to achieve a solution based on a UN-brokered blueprint for a federal Cyprus state and power-sharing between the two communities.