Next meeting with UN to include Türkiye, Greece — TRNC president

President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Ersin Tatar has announced that the next meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres would include Türkiye and Greece.

“We agreed that the next meeting with the UN Secretary-General will include the participation of Türkiye and Greece,” said Tatar on Tuesday, following an informal dinner at UN headquarters with Nikos Christodoulides, leader of the Greek Cypriot administration.

Tatar reaffirmed that the TRNC's position remains unchanged, advocating for a two-state solution after the failure of efforts for a federal solution during the last 50 years.

He said that formal negotiations would not resume until TRNC's sovereign equality and international status are recognised.

Additionally, Tatar noted a decision to meet Christodoulides on the island of Cyprus to discuss the opening of new border crossings is contingent on acceptable requests.

Decades-long dispute

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of 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 was founded in 1983.

The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the EU in 2004, the same year when Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.

Türkiye fully supports a two-state solution on the island of Cyprus based on sovereign equality and equal international status.