Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, will hold a meeting with the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on June 25 in Brussels, on the sidelines of the European Council meeting that will take place in the Belgian capital on June 24-25 and to which Guterres has been invited.

CNA has learned that the meeting has been scheduled to take place on June 25 at 10.30 am. This is the first meeting between Anastasiades and Guterres since the 5+1 informal meeting on Cyprus that took place in Geneva at the end of April.

They are expected to discuss the current situation as regards the Cyprus problem and the prospects of convening a new informal meeting on Cyprus, given the Turkish position in favour of a two-state solution and the moves of the Turkish side in the fenced off city of Famagusta. The UNSG`s special envoy on Cyprus, Jane Holl Lute, will visit Nicosia at the beginning of next week for meetings with the two sides.

Meanwhile, Cyprus Foreign Minister, Nikos Christodoulides, had on Thursday a meeting with the UNSG`s Special Representative in Cyprus, Elizabeth Spehar, with whom he discussed the Cyprus problem and the issue of Varosha.
 
The Foreign Ministry said in a post on its twitter account that FM Christodoulides held a useful and timely exchange of views in a meeting with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cyprus and Head of UNFICYP, Elizabeth Spehar, ahead of the upcoming UNSG Reports on UNFICYP and the Good Offices Mission.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results.

A 5+1 Informal Meeting that took place in Geneva, on April 27-29, failed to find enough common ground to allow for the resumption of formal negotiations in relation to the settlement of the Cyprus problem.

UN Secretary – General, Antonio Guterres, has said that he will convene in the near future another meeting of the 5+1, the five plus the United Nations, again with the objective to move in the direction of reaching common ground to allow for formal negotiations to start. 

Varosha, the fenced off section of the Turkish occupied town of Famagusta, is often described as a ‘ghost town’. UN Security Council resolution 550 (1984) considers any attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN. UN Security Council resolution 789 (1992) also urges that with a view to the implementation of resolution 550 (1984), the area at present under the control of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus be extended to include Varosha.

On October 8, 2020, the Turkish side opened part of the fenced area of Varosha, following an announcement made in Ankara on October 6. Both the UN Secretary-General and the EU expressed concern, while the UN Security Council called for the reversal of this course of action.