Turkish foreign minister meets Cyprus envoy ahead of UN chief’s visit to island

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Friday met in the capital Ankara with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ personal envoy on Cyprus to discuss the latest developments on the Cyprus issue ahead of the UN chief’s planned visit to the island.

According to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources, during the meeting Fidan and the UN’s Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar exchanged views on recent developments about Cyprus.

Fidan reiterated that Türkiye as a guarantor power and the Turkish Cypriots’ motherland, believes “the most realistic solution to the Cyprus issue lies in the coexistence of the two states on the island.”

He also said that approaches failing to recognize the Turkish Cypriot people’s inherent rights to sovereign equality and equal international status, based on the realities on the island, “will not contribute to a solution.”

Cuellar’s appointment

Guterres appointed Cuellar, a former Colombian foreign minister, his personal envoy on Cyprus on Jan. 5, 2024.

She was tasked with determining, through consultations with the two sides on the island and the three guarantor powers, whether sufficient common ground existed to launch a new formal negotiation process on the Cyprus issue.

Cuellar’s initial mandate ended in July 2024. Based on her findings, the UN formally concluded in October 2024 that no common ground existed between the parties for a settlement.

In 2025, Guterres launched a new cooperation process aimed at building trust between the two sides by fostering a culture of cooperation despite the absence of common ground for formal negotiations.

Following an expanded informal meeting on Cyprus in Geneva in March 2025 with the participation of the two sides, the three guarantor powers, and Guterres, Cuellar was reappointed personal envoy to oversee the cooperation process and prepare for a second expanded informal meeting that July.

However, no meaningful progress was achieved during the process, largely due to the Greek Cypriot side’s negative stance on key issues, including the opening of new crossing points, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources.

Long-standing dispute

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece, and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot Administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.