Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides on Wednesday (local time) urged the United Nations to appoint a special envoy with the aim of restarting negotiations on the long-divided island.
“It is high time for the United Nations to become a driving force of dialogue by appointing as a first step an envoy on the Cyprus problem to explore and prepare the ground for the resumption of negotiations,” Christodoulides told the United Nations General Assembly.
Tensions have been on the rise in recent months between the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus in the south and the breakaway Turkish Cypriot statelet in the north, supported by Ankara.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the east Mediterranean island in response to a Greek-sponsored coup.
“The United Nations and Secretary General have the responsibility prescribed in the UN Charter to act as a catalyst for peace in Cyprus,” Christodoulides said.
“It can be facilitated by the European Union… which has expressed its commitment to deliver so as to reunify its last divided member state.”
The Cypriot leader also offered a personal message to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Dear Mr Erdogan: illegality stemming from invasion, aggression and the use of force cannot be recognized.”
Erdogan in his own address on Tuesday cast doubts on UN diplomacy and instead called for international recognition of the Turkish-dominated breakaway north.
Efforts to reunify the island have been at a standstill since the last round of UN-backed talks collapsed in 2017.
EU officials have made the revival of their own long-stalled negotiations on closer ties with Turkey contingent on finally settling the Cyprus dispute.
Rare violence broke out in August when the United Nations accused Turkish Cypriot forces of injuring four peacekeepers as they tried to block unauthorized construction work in a village on the UN-patrolled buffer zone.
Source: AFP
