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President: Common Goal with UN Secretary-General for Substantial Progress on Cyprus Before Year-End

Published March 18, 2026, 20:18
President: Common Goal with UN Secretary-General for Substantial Progress on Cyprus Before Year-End

The President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, confirmed that there is a common goal with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for substantial progress on the Cyprus issue before the end of Mr. Guterres' term. This emerged from their meeting on Wednesday in Brussels. President Christodoulides described the discussion with Mr. Guterres as "very substantial and very productive." Mr. Christodoulides stated that Mr. Guterres briefed him on his discussions in Turkey and how he sees the next steps. He underlined the importance of Mr. Guterres' presence in Brussels and the view that the European Union can help substantially in resolving the Cyprus issue. He expressed his expectation for developments soon within the framework of the discussion with the UN Secretary-General. Asked about how progress can be made before the end of Mr. Guterres' term, given that there has been no substantial discussion with the Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhürman, President Christodoulides stressed the focus on the substance of the Cyprus issue. Mr. Guterres has already met with Mr. Erhürman and the discussion in Turkey also concerned Cyprus. The President Christodoulides referred to a possible informal expanded conference on Cyprus, emphasizing the desire for specific preparatory work that will lead to results. He did not specify a timeline, but reiterated that the goal is to restart talks with the participation of all stakeholders, i.e., in an expanded format. He stressed that there will be no public negotiations on the Cyprus issue.