UN envoy hopeful on Cyprus, says multi-party summit premature

NICOSIA, Dec 16 - The key U.N. envoy seeking to break a deadlock in Cyprus's long-running division said she was cautiously optimistic about a breakthrough but that it ‍would ​be premature to convene a multi-nation summit on ‍the conflict.

In an interview with Cyprus's Phileleftheros daily, envoy Maria Angela Holguin said she was hopeful after ​meeting ​with Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on December 11. She said their discussion, which agreed to focus also on ‍confidence-building, was "deep, sincere and very straightforward".

"While encouraging, the dialogue process between both leaders ​is at its early beginning. More ⁠will need to be done in order to strengthen the nascent momentum and establish a real climate of trust that would allow the Secretary-General to convene a 5+1 informal meeting," said ​Holguin, a former Colombian foreign minister.

A 5+1 meeting would be an informal summit of the two ‌Cypriot communities with United Nations Secretary-General ​Antonio Guterres and representatives of Britain, Turkey and Greece to define how to move forward and break a seven-year stalemate in peace talks. The three NATO nations are guarantor powers of Cyprus under a treaty which granted the island independence from Britain in 1960.

A power-sharing administration of Cypriot Greeks and Turks crumbled in 1963. Turkey ‍invaded the north of the island in 1974 after a brief coup ​engineered by the military then ruling Greece. The island has been split on ethnic lines ​ever since.

Turkish Cypriots live in a breakaway state in ‌the north, while Greek Cypriots in the south run an internationally recognised administration representing the whole island in the ‌European Union. REUTERS