Few were surprised that a UN-sponsored summit failed to jumpstart settlement talks on the Cyprus conflict last week, but Turkey sees the meeting as a “turning point” in reshuffling the cards and upping the ante on the long-divided Mediterranean island.

The most intriguing aspect of the April 27-29 meeting in Geneva was perhaps the attitude of Britain amid signals that it might readjust its Cyprus policy in a way more favorable to the Turkish side. Britain, along with Turkey and Greece, is a guarantor state of Cyprus, which has been divided along ethnic lines since Turkey’s military intervention in 1974 in response to a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

Since its exit from the European Union, Britain has sought a closer relationship with Turkey and displayed new flexibility on the Cyprus issue, irking the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government and Greece, which rely on their EU membership as their prime lever in the Cyprus conflict. The EU admitted Cyprus in 2004, but the island’s division meant that the Turkish Cypriots were left out in the cold. Only Ankara recognizes and props up the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), proclaimed in 1983.

In remarks to the Sunday Express just days before the Geneva summit, Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar urged the British government to lend support to his proposal for a two-state solution in Cyprus, which he would formally submit at the talks with strong backing from Turkey. Tatar “believes that after Brexit freed Britain from the EU it can now fulfill its role as a neutral guarantor for the Eastern Mediterranean island, ensuring that both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are treated in a balanced way,” the Sunday Express wrote.