The key U.N. envoy, Maria Angela Holgui, said on Tuesday that she was cautiously optimistic about a breakthrough over the deadlock in Cyrus’ long-running dispute, but it would be too early to convene a multi-nation summit on the conflict.
In an interview with Cyprus' Phileleftheros daily, Holguin said she was hopeful after meeting with Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman on Dec. 11.
She emphasized that their discussion, during which they agreed to also focus 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 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 five-plus-one meeting would be an informal summit of the two Cypriot communities with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and representatives of Great Britain, Türkiye and Greece to define how to move forward.
The three NATO nations are guarantor powers of Cyprus under a treaty that granted the island independence from Britain in 1960.
Erhürman met Christoulides for the second time last week since his election and said they were open to the resumption of the five-plus-one talks, but that the talks should resume once the circumstances are tangible.
Last Thursday, they agreed on multiple projects to boost mutual trust in hopes of getting back on track with long-stalled formal talks.
The meeting, which also marked the first time Christodoulides sat down with newly elected Erhürman, took place in the presence of Holguin at the U.N. compound in Nicosia (Lefkoşa).
The two leaders agreed to work out a deal that would allow Turkish Cypriot manufacturers of halloumi cheese, or hellim in Turkish, a rubbery, squeaky cheese that's the island's top export, to access European markets.
They also agreed to help expedite traffic at some of the busiest nine crossing points across a U.N. buffer zone that separates Greek Cypriots in the south and the TRNC in the north.
In addition, the two leaders will concentrate on completing construction of pipelines from a water treatment plant in the TRNC to supply water to Greek Cypriot farmers in the south, in line with an agreement that remained unfulfilled for a decade.
The announcement that the leaders would work on getting these trust-building measures off the ground offered some positive news for reviving the dormant talks.
According to the U.N., the meeting followed a March summit in Geneva at which Cypriot leaders made their first meaningful progress in years. In a statement issued after the talks, the U.N. has said the leaders were committed to moving the process forward and had agreed to participate in a broader informal meeting to be convened by U.N. chief Antonio Guterres, who hosted the March summit.
Cyprus has been split since 1974 when 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. The TRNC was founded in 1983, recognized only by Türkiye.
More than 35,000 Turkish troops are stationed in the north. The Greek Cypriot administration joined the European Union in 2004, but only the south enjoys full membership benefits. The Turkish-speaking north covers about a third of the island, including parts of Lefkoşa (Nicosia).
A peace deal in Cyprus would help unlock the Eastern Mediterranean's full energy potential, including expanding the search for sizable natural gas reserves off the island.