The United Nations on Thursday confirmed it will hold a five-party meeting in Geneva in April to examine the prospects of resolving the Cyprus conundrum.
“The purpose of the meeting will be to determine whether a common ground exists for the parties to negotiate a lasting solution to the Cyprus problem within a foreseeable horizon,” the UN Secretary-General Spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
The unofficial meeting, which will be held on April 27-29, will be the first since 2017, when the talks about the de facto divided island collapsed.
Commenting on the announcement, Greece, which is a guarantor power in the island along with the UK and Turkey, said that the goal of the talks is to find “common ground that will lead to substantial negotiations on the resolution of the Cyprus issue”.
While each side has its own red lines, for Greece, the solution needs to be based on the United Nations Security Council resolutions and in line with EU law, which support the formation of a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation.
On the other side, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu said that since the country “cannot agree on the federation”, the sides need to meet to discuss which items will be included in the agenda and to “find a formula for a permanent solution,” Turkish-owned state media reported.
The unofficial talks will come a month after a progress report of EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell on Turkey and the an EU summit scheduled for March 25-26.