According to the UN official, the world organization is committed to the Cyprus peace agreement

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The United Nations remains committed to helping rival Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots reach an agreement to bridge the island nation’s ethnic divide, a senior UN official said on Wednesday. The issue has been a source of instability in the eastern Mediterranean for decades.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacekeeping Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said she had reiterated to new Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides that “the Secretary-General is committed to supporting a resolution on the Cyprus issue.”

He is scheduled to speak with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar later in the day, as well as at the UN-controlled demilitarized zone that bisects Nicosia.

The UN has facilitated several failed rounds of talks between the two sides since 1974, when a Turkish invasion sparked by a coup aimed at unification with Greece split the island into a breakaway Turkish Cypriot in the north and a Greek Cypriot in the south – where the island is internationally recognized. government is sitting.

A peace deal in Cyprus, home to a key British air base and a wiretapping site, would remove a political thorn that has plagued the international community for decades as Russia’s war in Ukraine brought instability to the world.

In addition, a deal could accelerate the development of major natural gas deposits off the southern coast of Cyprus amid Europe’s energy shortages and help smooth the rocky relationship between NATO ally Greece and Turkey.

Christodoulides said his new government’s top priority remains a deal to reunify the Cypriot federation and wants to restart a process stalled since the last round of talks in 2017.

But one of the main obstacles to a return to the negotiating table is that Turkey and the minority Turkish Cypriots have negotiated a negotiated form of agreement after the last failed peace push at a Swiss resort in the summer of 2010. 2017

It has long been agreed that any deal would reunify Cyprus as a federation consisting of a Turkish-speaking zone in the north and a Greek-speaking zone in the south. But Turkey and Turkish Cypriots are now seeking a two-state deal that would recognize separate Turkish Cypriot sovereignty, something Greek Cypriots flatly reject. It has also been shunned by the European Union, the United Nations, the United States and other countries.

Tatar reiterated after his meeting with DiCarlo that negotiations could begin as soon as the Turkish Cypriots’ “equal sovereign status” was recognized, and that any agreement should include the transfer of military intervention rights to Turkey.

It is unlikely that any formal process could resume before the May 14 elections in Turkey, but Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letimbiotis said the Greek Cypriot side was ready to resume talks immediately, “and we expect Mr. Tatar to come to the negotiating table with a sincere willingness to in order to reach an agreement based on

Letymbiotis also reiterated Christodoulides’ aim for the EU to participate more actively in the peace talks by appointing a senior official. Turkey and Turkish Cypriots accuse the EU of not being equal because, although Cyprus is a member of the bloc, only the southern parts enjoy the full benefits.

“We should not look at this proposal as a harmful contribution, but a very positive contribution to creating the necessary atmosphere” for the resumption of peace talks, Letymbiotis said.