UN chief says no common ground to resume Cyprus talks

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday there is “no common ground yet” to resume official negotiations to resolve the Cyprus issue.

“The truth is that at the end of our efforts, we have not yet found enough common ground to allow for the resumption of formal negotiations,” Guterres told reporters in Geneva.

He pointed out that the Turkish Cypriots believe they deserve equal international status and insist on the two-state solution.

“Meanwhile, the Greek Cypriot administration believe the negotiations should aim to achieve a settlement based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the Joint Declaration of 2014, the existing body of work, the six elements I presented in Crans Montana, and in line with the EU acquis,” Guterres added.

The UN chief said he will hold, in the near future, another meeting of the 5+1, in order to move in the direction of reaching a common ground to allow for formal negotiations to start.

“We are determined to do everything we can to make this dialogue move on,” he added.

The 5+1 group met in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday to Thursday this week to discuss the Cyprus file under UN auspices. The group consists of three guarantor countries; Greece, Turkey and the UK, the island’s two administrations in addition to the United Nations.

FM: Turkey fully supports two-state solution in Cyprus