United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland April 29, 2021/ Stavros Ioannides
A United Nations-backed summit, aimed at breaking the deadlock in peace talks over the future of Cyprus, has ended without a resolution.
Delegates from the Greek and Turkish Cypriot governments meeting in Geneva have been unable to agree on plans for a future constitutional framework for the island, which was divided after a Turkish invasion in 1974 following a Greece-backed coup.
Ankara insists a two-state solution, granting sovereignty and equal international status for the north, is the only option. Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades described the proposals as having "not one single chance" of success, adding that the outcome of the three-day meeting had proved "a great disappointment."
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The so-called "5+1" talks were attended by the island's two rival governments, with the foreign ministers of Greece, Turkey and former colonial power Britain appearing in a "guarantor" capacity.
Only Turkey recognizes the breakaway state in Northern Cyprus and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had urged both sides to "be creative," after a four-year impasse in mediation efforts. Speaking after the event he said: "This was not an easy meeting ... we are not able to reach the agreements that we would wish to reach, but we are not going to give up."
People walk by the Paphos Gate near the UN-controlled buffer zone in Nicosia, Cyprus. /Reuters/Yiannis Kourtoglou
The decades-long conflict in Cyprus has been a key source of tension in NATO and the EU, with Nicosia remaining Europe's last divided capital. Negotiations have taken on a new urgency with the discovery of offshore gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean, which has led Turkey to send naval ships for exploration exercises in disputed zones off the island's coast, which Athens claims are unlawful.
Last year, the government of the north reopened the "ghost-resort" town of Varosha next to the border, despite international condemnation.
Ersin Tatar, who claimed presidency last October after an election backed by Ankara, concluded that the terms of any future deal were key to progress, saying "the rules of this game need to change because it is to our disadvantage." He added that the onus was now on the former colonial power to step in, stating "Britain has the capacity to fix this."
The UN is proposing another round of talks soon, but speaking after Friday prayers in Istanbul, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared to dismiss any chance of success, saying: "Now it's been pushed back two to three months, but I again don't believe any result will be achieved, because [Greek Cypriots] are not honest."