UN chief announces plans for new enlarged meeting on Cyprus issue

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at a press conference after a tripartite meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman at the UN buffer zone in Nicosia, Cyprus, on July 29, 2026. (Photo by George Christophorou/Xinhua)

NICOSIA, July 29 (Xinhua) -- United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday announced plans to convene another enlarged meeting on the Cyprus issue following a tripartite meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman.

Guterres arrived in Cyprus on Monday evening for his first visit to the island since taking office as UN secretary-general. It was also the first visit by a sitting UN chief since Ban Ki-moon traveled to Cyprus in early 2010.

Guterres said the enlarged meeting on the Cyprus issue will be convened "after adequate progress" is achieved on the matters of confidence-building measures, the meeting's methodology, and the substance of the talks.

He did not set a deadline, but said there was a "consensus" among the two sides and the island's three guarantor powers -- Greece, Türkiye and the United Kingdom -- that such a meeting should be held.

He stressed that the UN did not want "another enlarged meeting to end without result" and that "adequate preparation" should be made beforehand.

Cyprus has remained divided since 1974, when a Turkish military intervention followed a coup by Greek army officers. The latest round of UN-sponsored reunification talks collapsed at a conference in Switzerland in 2017, and negotiations have remained stalled since then.

At an informal UN-hosted meeting in Geneva in March 2025, the parties agreed on a number of confidence-building measures, laying the groundwork for renewed diplomatic efforts. ■