UNITED NATIONS, July 16 (Reuters) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to divided Cyprus at the end of July to discuss peacebuilding efforts between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, a U.N. spokesperson said on Thursday.
• The visit comes against the backdrop of growing speculation the United Nations will launch a fresh push to resolve the decades-old split of Cyprus before his term expires at the end of the year.
• Guterres was due to meet with the Greek and Turkish Cypriot community leaders during his visit from July 27 to 29, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said, underlining his “strong demonstrated commitment to the Cyprus issue”.
• “He will meet with the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders, as well as other stakeholders, and discuss efforts to advance the peace process and support stability on the island, including through the work of the U.N. peacekeeping mission on the ground there, UNFICYP,” Dujarric said.
• A diplomatic source in Nicosia said the itinerary included a joint meeting with the two leaders in a U.N.-administered buffer zone which has separated the two communities for decades.
• Cyprus was divided in 1974 after Turkey invaded parts of the island’s north following a Greek-backed coup. Seeds of division were sown shortly after independence from Britain in 1960, when a power-sharing administration of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots collapsed amid violence.
• Greek Cypriots run Cyprus’s internationally recognised government in the south with Turkish Cypriots administering the north.
• The last meaningful negotiations on Cyprus collapsed in 2017 amid disagreements on whether Turkey should have a role in a future federated Cyprus with two self-governing regions linked by a strong central government.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Ros Russell)
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