The latest attempt to lay the ground for the resumption of talks to reunite Cyprus failed after a three-day summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a news conference in Geneva Thursday. Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders had gathered with the foreign ministers of Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom to unblock a four-year pause in negotiations over the future of the Eastern Mediterranean island. It has been divided since 1974, when Turkish forces invaded the northern third of the island to torpedo a Greek Cypriot attempt to annex it to Greece and created the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, solely recognized by Ankara.
“The truth is that at the end of our efforts, we have not yet found enough common ground to allow for the resumption of formal negotiations,” Guterres said. The UN would try again in “probably two to three months,” he added.
