Cyprus talks to restart in Geneva after four-year stalemate

Representatives of Greek and Turkish Cypriots, as well as the three guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom will meet in Geneva at the end of April for informal talks.  

These talks, the first in this format since 2017, will be convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The three-day meeting (April 27-29) will be held after months of dialogue led by an envoy of the Secretary-General, Jane Holl Lute. 

“The purpose of the meeting will be to determine whether common ground exists for the parties to negotiate a lasting solution to the Cyprus problem within a foreseeable horizon,” Guterres’ spokesman said on Wednesday evening. 

At the end of January, Guterres said that the meeting he was planning would take place “without preconditions”. This could lead to a more formal format for discussions. 

Four years ago, the same stakeholders had already met in Switzerland. But no agreement had been reached for a reunification of the island, which has been divided for almost 50 years after the Turkish invasion of the north of the island in reaction to a coup d’état.