Rival leaders of divided Cyprus seek progress on future
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the latest meeting "will provide an opportunity to continue the dialogue and exchange views on the progress made since March.
At that last meeting in Geneva, Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar agreed to trust-building measures on issues like energy, environment, youth affairs and demining, as well as opening four new crossing points along a UN-controlled buffer zone that divides the Mediterranean island.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Greek-backed coup triggered a Turkish military intervention.
This led to a split between the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot-controlled Republic of Cyprus and the self-declared entity in the north.
Only Turkey recognises the island's breakaway state of North Cyprus, and it maintains more than 35,000 troops in the territory.
While the Republic of Cyprus is part of the European Union, EU law does not apply in the breakaway northern entity, which remains under Turkish military presence.
Negotiations between the rivals have been stalled since 2017.
As with the meeting in March in Geneva, guarantors from Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom will be at the two-day meeting in New York at the request of UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Ahead of the latest talks, the Republic of Cyprus' deputy government spokesperson Yiannis Antoniou — who serves under Christodoulides — told Euronews that the Greek side's main aim was to agree on specific outcomes for the trust-building measures.
"The aim is to go to the next step, which is to create the conditions for direct negotiations," Antoniou said in an exclusive interview.
"For us, this is the most important thing. That is to go to the negotiating table in search of a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem," he added.
Concern over crossing points
The primary obstacle to peace is Turkey's and Northern Cyprus' insistence on a two-state solution. This goes against Cyprus' desire for a federation — a model endorsed by the UN Security Council — that foresees Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking zones.
Greek Cypriots say they won't agree to any accord that formally partitions the island, allows for a permanent Turkish troop presence, gives Turkey rights to militarily intervene or offers the minority Turkish Cypriots a veto right on all government decisions.
The rivals have made some progress since March on the trust-building measures, which also include work on a photovoltaic park inside the buffer zone and restoration work on cemeteries on both sides of the divide.
However, the opening of four new crossing points has proved to be a sticking point.
Antoniou told Euronews that the Turkish Cypriot side had deployed a "delaying policy".
"They claim that they cannot decide for themselves and that it is a matter for the Turkish army. We cannot accept this argument," he said.
"We can't agree to the opening of just one roadblock, because there must be an element of reciprocity, that is to say, we must accept the opening of crossing points, but these must serve the inhabitants on both sides of Cyprus, in the occupied and free areas."
On the issue of the photovoltaic park within the buffer zone, Antoniou said his government objected to the Turkish Cypriot side's stance on the matter.
"The other side essentially wants this photovoltaic park to operate in the conditions of two separate sovereign states, which we will certainly not accept," he said.
'Lack of trust'
In the light of geopolitical challenges and conflicts ranging from the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in Sryia to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Turkey has increasingly positioned itself as a point of stability and powerbroker in the Middle East.
For the Greek Cypriots, this is a concern, according to Antoniou.
"We see the Turkish side, after the fall of the al-Assad regime in Syria, approaching things with more political and diplomatic arrogance," he told Euronews.
"What concerns us at the moment is that it seems that Tatar is following a delaying policy because he may be serving his own agenda due to the upcoming 'elections'," he added.
Tatar faces reelection in October and says he is running on the same two-state platform — with the backing of Ankara — that first got him elected in 2020.
Antoniou said he believed the mediators in New York intended to maintain dialogue during this meeting in the expectation that after the elections in Northern Cyprus "there may be a political environment that allows us to move forward".
"We are not expecting anything drastic in New York, or any substantial change due to the attitude of the Turkish side", he added.
In a recent interview with Politis, a daily Greek-language newspaper published in Cyprus, the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy on Cyprus María Angela Holguín said she was worried about "the growing gap between the two communities at a societal level".
Antoniou said that there was a lot of work to be done by both sides on this issue, although he stressed that the two very different situations should not be equated.
"For our part, as far as possible, we are trying to work creatively around these issues with respect for the rights of Turkish Cypriots and respect for religious freedoms in the free areas for all the inhabitants of the island," he said.
"Turkish Cypriots are free to come to the free areas controlled by the Republic of Cyprus and pray, visit their mosques and so on, while on the other side the same is not exactly the case. Consequently, they are two completely different worlds a lot of times, which exacerbates this feeling of lack of trust, unfortunately," Antoniou added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fashion Network
5 hours ago
- Fashion Network
US, China to resume tariff talks in effort to extend truce
The Stockholm talks, led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, come right on the heels of Trump's biggest trade deal yet, with the European Union accepting a 15% tariff on its goods exports to the U.S. and agreeing to make significant EU purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment. That deal struck with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday in Scotland also calls for $600 billion in investments in the U.S. by the EU, Trump told reporters. No similar breakthrough is expected in the U.S.-China talks, but trade analysts said that another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May was likely. An extension of that length would prevent further escalation and help create conditions for a potential meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late October or early November. Spokespersons for the White House and U.S. Trade Representative's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on a South China Morning Post report quoting unnamed sources as saying the two sides would refrain from introducing new tariffs or take other steps that could escalate the trade war for another 90 days. Trump's administration is poised to impose new sectoral tariffs that will impact China, including on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, ship-to-shore cranes and other products. "We're very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we'll see how that goes," Trump told reporters before his meeting with von der Leyen, providing no further details. Previous U.S.-China trade talks in Geneva and London in May and June focused on bringing U.S. and Chinese retaliatory tariffs down from triple-digit levels and restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China and Nvidia's H20 AI chips and other goods halted by the United States. So far, the talks have not delved into broader economic issues. They include U.S. complaints that China's state-led, export-driven model is flooding world markets with cheap goods, and Beijing's complaints that U.S. national security export controls on tech goods seek to stunt Chinese growth. "Stockholm will be the first meaningful round of U.S.-China trade talks," said Bo Zhengyuan, Shanghai-based partner at China consultancy firm Plenum. Trump has been successful in pressuring some other trading partners, including Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, into deals accepting higher U.S. tariffs of 15% to 20%. Analysts say the U.S.-China negotiations are far more complex and will require more time. China's grip on the global market for rare earth minerals and magnets, used in everything from military hardware to car windshield wiper motors, has proved to be an effective leverage point on U.S. industries. In the background of the talks is speculation about a possible meeting between Trump and Xi in late October. Trump has said he will decide soon whether to visit China in a landmark trip to address trade and security tensions. A new flare-up of tariffs and export controls would likely derail any plans for a meeting with Xi. "The Stockholm meeting is an opportunity to start laying the groundwork for a Trump visit to China," said Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Bessent has already said he wants to work out an extension of the August 12 deadline to prevent tariffs snapping back to 145% on the U.S. side and 125% on the Chinese side. Still, China will likely request a reduction of multi-layered U.S. tariffs totaling 55% on most goods and further easing of U.S. high-tech export controls, analysts said. Beijing has argued that such purchases would help reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, which reached $295.5 billion in 2024. China is currently facing a 20% tariff related to the U.S. fentanyl crisis, a 10% reciprocal tariff, and 25% duties on most industrial goods imposed during Trump's first term. Bessent has also said he would discuss with He the need for China to rebalance its economy away from exports toward domestic consumer demand. The shift would require China to put an end to a protracted property crisis and boost social safety nets to encourage household spending. Michael Froman, a former U.S. trade representative during Barack Obama 's administration, said such a shift has been a goal of U.S. policymakers for two decades. "Can we effectively use tariffs to get China to fundamentally change their economic strategy? That remains to be seen," said Froman, now president of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
Fashion Network
5 hours ago
- Fashion Network
US, China to resume tariff talks in effort to extend truce
The Stockholm talks, led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, come right on the heels of Trump's biggest trade deal yet, with the European Union accepting a 15% tariff on its goods exports to the U.S. and agreeing to make significant EU purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment. That deal struck with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday in Scotland also calls for $600 billion in investments in the U.S. by the EU, Trump told reporters. No similar breakthrough is expected in the U.S.-China talks, but trade analysts said that another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May was likely. An extension of that length would prevent further escalation and help create conditions for a potential meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late October or early November. Spokespersons for the White House and U.S. Trade Representative's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on a South China Morning Post report quoting unnamed sources as saying the two sides would refrain from introducing new tariffs or take other steps that could escalate the trade war for another 90 days. Trump's administration is poised to impose new sectoral tariffs that will impact China, including on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, ship-to-shore cranes and other products. "We're very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we'll see how that goes," Trump told reporters before his meeting with von der Leyen, providing no further details. Previous U.S.-China trade talks in Geneva and London in May and June focused on bringing U.S. and Chinese retaliatory tariffs down from triple-digit levels and restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China and Nvidia's H20 AI chips and other goods halted by the United States. So far, the talks have not delved into broader economic issues. They include U.S. complaints that China's state-led, export-driven model is flooding world markets with cheap goods, and Beijing's complaints that U.S. national security export controls on tech goods seek to stunt Chinese growth. "Stockholm will be the first meaningful round of U.S.-China trade talks," said Bo Zhengyuan, Shanghai-based partner at China consultancy firm Plenum. Trump has been successful in pressuring some other trading partners, including Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, into deals accepting higher U.S. tariffs of 15% to 20%. Analysts say the U.S.-China negotiations are far more complex and will require more time. China's grip on the global market for rare earth minerals and magnets, used in everything from military hardware to car windshield wiper motors, has proved to be an effective leverage point on U.S. industries. In the background of the talks is speculation about a possible meeting between Trump and Xi in late October. Trump has said he will decide soon whether to visit China in a landmark trip to address trade and security tensions. A new flare-up of tariffs and export controls would likely derail any plans for a meeting with Xi. "The Stockholm meeting is an opportunity to start laying the groundwork for a Trump visit to China," said Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Bessent has already said he wants to work out an extension of the August 12 deadline to prevent tariffs snapping back to 145% on the U.S. side and 125% on the Chinese side. Still, China will likely request a reduction of multi-layered U.S. tariffs totaling 55% on most goods and further easing of U.S. high-tech export controls, analysts said. Beijing has argued that such purchases would help reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, which reached $295.5 billion in 2024. China is currently facing a 20% tariff related to the U.S. fentanyl crisis, a 10% reciprocal tariff, and 25% duties on most industrial goods imposed during Trump's first term. Bessent has also said he would discuss with He the need for China to rebalance its economy away from exports toward domestic consumer demand. The shift would require China to put an end to a protracted property crisis and boost social safety nets to encourage household spending. Michael Froman, a former U.S. trade representative during Barack Obama 's administration, said such a shift has been a goal of U.S. policymakers for two decades. "Can we effectively use tariffs to get China to fundamentally change their economic strategy? That remains to be seen," said Froman, now president of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
Euronews
8 hours ago
- Euronews
Von der Leyen and Trump strike EU-US trade deal to avert tariff war
The European Union and the United States have struck a tentative trade deal to avert a potentially devastating tariff war between two of the world's largest economies, capping a race against time before a self-imposed deadline of 1 August. Under the agreed terms, finalised on Sunday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump during a meeting in Scotland, the majority of EU exports bound for the American market will be slapped with a 15% tariff. "I think it's great we made a deal today instead of playing games," Trump said at the end of the meeting. "I think it's the biggest deal ever made." "We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world. And it's a big deal. It's a huge deal," von der Leyen said. "It will bring stability, it will bring predictability. That's very important for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic." This is a developing story.
