UN: No common ground found in Cyprus talks

* Photo: Cem Özdel / AA

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United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has stated that there has been "no common ground yet" to resume formal negotiations on a settlement for the decades-old Cyprus problem.

As reported by Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), Guterres was speaking at a news conference in Geneva after three days of informal talks looking to move forward on the Cyprus issue and said that he would convene another round of 5+1 talks to move the process forward.

"We have been able to agree that I will convene in the near future another meeting of the 5+1, again with the objective to move in the direction of reaching the common ground to allow for formal negotiations to start," said the UN Secretary General. "We are determined to do everything we can to make this dialogue move on," stated Guterres further.

CLICK - 5+1 Cyprus talks to resume after four years

Views of the two sides

Guterres noted that the position expressed on Wednesday (April 28) by President of Northern Cyprus Ersin Tatar was that "the many efforts made to solve the Cyprus issue over the years have failed, including the most recent attempt made in Crans Montana," in 2017.

"They believe efforts to negotiate the bi-zonal or bi-communal federation have been exhausted," said Guterres, adding: "The solution, in their view, should be based on two states cooperating with each other."

"The position expressed yesterday by the Greek Cypriot delegation was that negotiations should resume from where they left off in Crans Montana."

According to the Greek Cypriot administration, 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," he added.

Regarding the time frame for the following talks, Guterres said that there was an understanding at this week's meeting that probably two to three months should be the kind of time framework that could be useful.

"But in an informal meeting, and this informal meeting was convened without preconditions in any formal meeting, it is, I would say, useful that all delegations are able to express their positions and that would allow us naturally to interact with each other," he said.

Tatar reiterates call for 'two-state solution'

As further reported by the Anadolu Agency, President of Northern Cyprus Ersin Tatar said late Thursday (April 29) that "a fair, permanent and sustainable agreement on Cyprus can only be achieved based on the equal international status between the two states."

"If our sovereign equality and equal international status are recognized, a fair and permanent agreement can only be achieved on Cyprus through state-to-state negotiations," he said at Ercan International Airport in Lefkoşa after the conclusion of informal talks in Geneva, Switzerland.

"Our expectation from the UN Security Council is to recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus's sovereignty and bring its status equal with the Greek Cypriot administration," Tatar said. In this way, a solution can be negotiated and a common ground can be established, he added.

CLICK - Northern Cyprus: Presidency of Turkey-backed Ersin Tatar and a short history

(EKN/SD)