Fidan to visit TRNC

Fidan will be on the island on Jan. 8 and 9 and will meet Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar and Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, according to diplomatic sources. He will discuss the bilateral ties between the two countries as well as recent developments regarding the Cypriot problem.

The visit comes as Guterres is planning another informal meeting between the Turkish and Greek Cyprus leaders with the participation of three guarantor states: Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom.

Guterres brought Tatar and Greek Cyprus leader Nikos Christodoulides in October, as he presses on both sides to start a new round of negotiations to find a solution to the decades-old problem.

Fidan will review the Turkish side’s position ahead of the planned meeting, the sources said.

However, a report penned by Guterres’s personal envoy, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, reiterated that there was no common ground between the two sides to start a new process.

Ankara underlines that previous efforts to find a solution on the basis of creating a federal state between the two sides have failed because of Greek Cyprus’ rejection of the Annan Plan in 2004 and Crans Montana in 2017.

Launching a new process to find a fair, lasting and sustainable solution to the problem requires the recognition of the Turkish Cypriots’ sovereign equality and equal international status, Ankara said.

In a recent report, Guterres called on both sides to resume talks aimed at ending the division on the island.

“It is also important, at this stage and after the findings of my Personal Envoy, to have a critical look at the way forward through an informal broader meeting with the two sides and the guarantor powers," Guterres said in a report on his mission of Good Offices in Cyprus.

“I call upon all relevant stakeholders to earnestly consider how to ensure that this next engagement, which has raised hope among Cypriots that a mutually acceptable way forward is still possible, is open and constructive,” he said.

The report covers developments from June 13 to Dec. 11, 2024, and officially notes that the term of office of Cuellar concluded in July 2024.

Source: HDN