President Nikos Christodoulides is to convene a meeting of Cyprus’s political party leaders ahead of António Guterres’s visit later this month, briefing them on recent diplomatic contacts and the latest developments in the stalled effort to revive reunification talks.
The government says such a gathering is necessary given the delicacy of the moment and the need to secure a basic degree of internal consensus.
Officials have declined to reveal what specific proposals the Greek Cypriot side intends to put to the UN Secretary-General, or what concessions it might be prepared to make to help create the conditions for negotiations to resume.
The administration insists that any new multilateral meeting should aim to pick up talks where they left off, and should be grounded in Security Council resolutions and EU principles.
The question that matters, according to diplomats, is whether that stated position will be matched by genuine political and negotiating readiness.
Mr Guterres is due in Cyprus from July 27 to 29 to determine whether the minimum conditions exist for convening an informal five-party meeting. The visit follows a closed-door briefing at the Security Council, at which UN officials set out the continuing efforts of the envoy, María Ángela Holguín, to find common ground between the two communities.
Council members including the United States, France, Greece, Denmark and Latvia repeated their support for a settlement based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality. Pakistan and Somalia, however, drew attention to the economic disparities and isolation experienced by Turkish Cypriots, exposing the divergence of views that persists within the Council.
Nicosia maintains that an informal meeting before the end of summer remains within reach — provided Turkey adopts a more constructive stance and abandons its demand for a two-state solution.
