The new Cypriot President, Nicos Christodoulides, met on Wednesday March 15 with a senior United Nations official visiting Nicosia for the first time in the hope of finding "ways to move forward" towards the resolution of one of the most serious
conflicts
. old in the world.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo spoke for about an hour with Nicos Christodoulides, elected in February after an election campaign in which he was more rigid than his opponents on the issue of the resumption of talks on the reunification of the Mediterranean island.
Talks stalled
"
We have discussed the Cyprus problem at length and we simply want to reiterate the commitments of the Secretary General (of the UN, Antonio Guterres, editor's note) to support a resolution
" of the United Nations on this subject, declared Rosemary DiCarlo to journalists, at the outcome of this meeting.
Since 2017, reunification talks have stalled in Cyprus, an island divided since Turkey's 1974 invasion of the Northern Third, in response to a coup by Cypriot-Greek nationalists who wanted to reunite it with Greece .
A member of the European Union since 2004, the Republic of Cyprus exercises its authority only over the southern part of the island, separated from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (RTCN, self-proclaimed and recognized only by Ankara) by the Line Green, a UN-controlled demilitarized zone.
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800 blue helmets
Rosemary DiCarlo said she would also "
discuss
" "
ways to move forward
" towards a resolution of the conflict, this time with the leader of the TRNC, the nationalist Ersin Tatar.
The latter, close to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, recently called on the international community to "
recognize the existence
" of two states in Cyprus, a red line for the Republic of Cyprus.
Rosemary DiCarlo is due to meet nearly 800 UN peacekeepers patrolling the demilitarized zone.
In his biannual report submitted to the UN Security Council, Antonio Guterres shared his concerns about "
a growing militarization of the ceasefire line
" in Cyprus and a political climate marked by a "
significant hardening of positions
" .
.
“
Prospects for a mutually acceptable resolution continue to recede
,” he wrote.