The second of the “5+1 format” Cyprus talks aimed to rekindle talks between the Greek and Turkish communities on divided Cyprus concluded on Thursday in New York under the chairmanship of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, althoug, as more-or-less expected, the meetings did not result in steps to jumpstart negotiations.
However, Guterres said all of the parties parties involved would meet two more times by the end of 2025, noting that they were “moving forward step by step” to build trust between to resolve the Cyprus issue.
According to the UN Secretary General, the two-day meeting evaluated the progress made under the six headings previously outlined talks held in Geneva last March.
People walk next to a Cypriot flag painted on a wall in Nicosia, Cyprus July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
To date, some progress has been made in areas such as establishing a technical committee for youth initiatives, the environment and climate change, restoration of cemeteries and demining.
However, negotiations are ongoing over the opening of new crossing points between the free parts of Cyprus and the Turkish-occupied north, as well as solar energy production in a UN-administered buffer zone.
According to Guterres, a consensus was reached on establishing a consultative structure to increase cooperation between civil society groups between both communities, exchanging historical artifacts, improving air quality and preventing microplastic pollution.
Participants included Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s foreign affairs minister.
A representative for the third guarantor, the United Kingdom, was Stephen Doughty, Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories.
In referring to the continuing impasse, Christodulides attributed the failure to produce better results from the New York meeting to a lack of necessary political will, adding that the main goal is to restart the Cyprus negotiations and that small but important developments towards this goal are being achieved, albeit step by step.
He argued that they had proposed the implementation of a transit corridor as well as new border crossing, but the Turkish Cypriot delegation had not accepted this.
He also said that in addition to these issues, five new proposals within the scope of confidence-building measures were not accepted by the TC side.
Christodulides, Fidan meeting
Another noteworthy development was the one-on-one meeting reportedly held between Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan and Christodulides.
According to reports in the Greek press, Fidan and Christodulides met after a dinner hosted by Guterres Wednesday.
According to the Greek Cypriot press, Turkey-EU relations were mainly discussed between the two leaders, as the Republic of Cyprus is a full EU member-state while Turkey is a perennial candidate state.
The fact that Cyprus will assume the EU presidency as of Jan. 1, 2026 makes the timing of the Christodulides-Fidan meeting even more important.
In terms of official Turkey, there no confirmation or denial from Ankara regarding Fidan’s meeting with Christodulides.
