Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday called for a win-win approach to solving the decades-long Cyprus issue as he participated in the “Expanded Format Informal Meeting on Cyprus” in New York.
Fidan participated in the talks alongside Greek and British foreign ministers, as well as leaders from both the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides.
Türkiye’s top diplomat emphasized the need for a realistic and fair solution on the island, based on existing facts, that benefits both communities and contributes to regional and international stability.
“Our approach is constructive,” he said. “President Erdoğan’s vision is clear – we operate on a win-win basis, always with empathy for the other side. But we cannot accept any formula that ignores the rights of Turkish Cypriots.”
Fidan criticized the longstanding status quo on the island for disregarding Turkish rights and added that even the United Nations acknowledges many of Türkiye’s positions.
“We are not a country that avoids negotiations or rational dialogue,” Fidan said. “We will continue engaging in talks, and we hope today’s discussions lead to mutually beneficial solutions. We have ideas and scenarios on the table, and we’ll be reviewing decisions from previous meetings and exploring what new agreements may be possible.”
Fidan also participated in a similar informal meeting on Cyprus, held in Geneva this March.
These informal meetings do not represent a continuation of previous negotiation processes, nor the start of a new negotiation process.
At the Geneva meeting, held at Guterres' request, the sides focused on cooperation areas such as crossing points, demining and environmental issues, with progress achieved on some but stalled on others due to the stance of the Greek Cypriot side.
To advance the process, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, the U.N. secretary-general's personal envoy on Cyprus, was reappointed in May and has since engaged in multiple visits and consultations with leaders and officials on the island and in Türkiye, Greece, the U.K. and the EU.
Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the U.K.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a U.N. plan to end the longstanding dispute.
