The quagmire in the Cyprus issue at the Guterres exhibition

Intense reflection on the Cyprus issue, with references to the climate of mistrust between the two sides, the negative rhetoric, but also to the Turkish actions in Varosia.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s report on the Cyprus issue is expected to be submitted to the Security Council later in the day, which will accompany the draft for the renewal of the peacekeeping force in Cyprus. Mr. Guterres’s report reflects his deep concern about the stalemate of recent years, while expressing the assessment that the passage of time will further complicate efforts to find a solution.

According to excerpts from the report that leaked to the press, Guterres refers to actions that increase the climate of mistrust between the parties, while he makes special reference to Turkish actions in the fenced city of Varos. There is also a special reference to the negative rhetoric of the two sides in Cyprus, with Antonio Guterres noting with particular concern that “the positions of the communities seem to have become more entrenched and more divisive.”

Lasting impasse

The UN Secretary General’s reports are a reflection of the stalemate in which the Cyprus issue has fallen after the failure of the informal Pentagon in April 2021, where the Turkish side submitted its proposal to change the basis for a solution to the Cyprus issue. Since then, a consolidation of the dichotomous status quo has been recorded, both at the level of rhetoric and at the level of political practices. On the one hand, the leader of the Turkish Cypriots, Ersin Tatar, insists on his rhetoric about a two-state solution, and on the other, the leader of the Greek Cypriot side, Nikos Anastasiadis, does not seem willing to disturb the stagnant waters until the end of his term in 2023.

The latest sign of the stalemate in the Cyprus issue was the failure of the informal tripartite meeting in September in New York, which ended with the recording of the disagreement between the two sides on the need to appoint a UN special envoy for the Cyprus issue.

Loukianos Lyritsas, Nicosia

Source: Deutsche Welle