Cyprus Talks Enter Ankara-Athens Phase as UN Envoy Prepares 5+1 Meeting
By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
The United Nations process on Cyprus is moving from Lefkosia to Ankara, Athens and Brussels after UN Secretary-General António Guterres' personal envoy, María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar, met Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman and Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides separately on Friday.
A day earlier, Holguín used the Technical Committees Open Day, published by GOM-Cyprus, the Mission of the Secretary-General's Good Offices in Cyprus, to frame practical cooperation as the immediate working ground of the UN track.
Holguín said the Technical Committees had "played a crucial role in fostering dialogue, cooperation, and mutual understanding between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots" since they were established in 2008, adding that they showed coexistence based on "respect, tolerance, and willingness to engage" was possible.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Presidency said Erhürman received Holguín at the Presidency and that the one-hour meeting covered "the Cyprus issue, confidence-building measures and regional developments."
That short statement matched the UN's public emphasis on practical cooperation. In her remarks to the Technical Committees, Holguín said "dialogue and cooperation with a shared purpose is needed in Cyprus," calling the committees "the best example in Cyprus."
Holguín's latest visit came as preparations continued for a new enlarged meeting on Cyprus in the 5+1 format, bringing together the two sides on the island, Türkiye, Greece, the United Kingdom and the United Nations.
After her contacts in Cyprus, Holguín said she would travel to Ankara and Athens next week for meetings with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis. She is then expected to continue to Brussels for contacts with European Union officials before returning to Cyprus before the end of June.
The next enlarged meeting is being prepared for late July or early August, Cyprus Mail reported, citing Holguín's remarks after her meetings with the two leaders.
The Republic of Cyprus Presidency confirmed Christodoulides' meeting with Holguín through a photo gallery caption, saying the two held a tête-à-tête meeting at the Presidential Palace in Lefkosia. Local Greek Cypriot reporting said the meeting lasted around 40 minutes.
The Greek Cypriot side is pressing for a return to the point where negotiations stopped in Crans-Montana in 2017. Christodoulides said the goal is to move toward an enlarged meeting at which the resumption of Cyprus negotiations would be announced, Haber Kıbrıs reported.
That formula remains the core political dispute. Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot side do not read the next step as a simple restart from 2017, but through the question of sovereign equality and equal international status, an issue Bosphorus News previously examined in its report on Türkiye's red lines on Holguín's mandate and the "way forward" debate.
The latest round also follows a week in which the Cyprus file was already moving between technical cooperation, the European Union's role and tighter Türkiye-TRNC security coordination, a track Bosphorus News covered on June 11 in its report on Cyprus talks, EU involvement and Türkiye-TRNC security coordination.
Holguín's calendar now turns the Cyprus process into a wider diplomatic sequence: Lefkosia first, then Ankara and Athens, then Brussels, and then another return to the island.
That sequence will test whether the UN can produce a meeting with practical results rather than another procedural stop. Erhürman has avoided public escalation after his meeting with Holguín, while Christodoulides has placed the emphasis on restarting talks from Crans-Montana.
Between those two positions sits the unresolved question that has defined the Cyprus file for years: whether the next round is treated as a return to a suspended federal negotiation, or as a process that must first address the political status of the Turkish Cypriot side.
***Sources: GOM-Cyprus / Mission of the Secretary-General's Good Offices in Cyprus, TRNC Presidency, Republic of Cyprus Presidency photo gallery caption, Bosphorus News reporting.