Fidan renews two-state call ahead of Guterres’ Cyprus visit

ANKARA

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan reiterated Türkiye’s support for a two-state settlement in Cyprus during talks with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ personal envoy in Ankara on July 24, days before the U.N. chief visits the island.

Fidan and Maria Angela Holguín Cuéllar exchanged views on recent developments in Cyprus, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources.

Fidan said Türkiye, as a guarantor power and the Turkish Cypriots’ motherland, believed “the most realistic solution to the Cyprus issue lies in the coexistence of the two states on the island.”

Approaches that did not recognize the Turkish Cypriot people’s “inherent rights to sovereign equality and equal international status” would not help advance a settlement, he added.

Guterres is due to visit Cyprus from July 27 to 29 as part of his good offices mission.

He will meet Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman, Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and other stakeholders to discuss the peace process and stability on the island.

Holguín, a former Colombian foreign minister, was first appointed as Guterres’ personal envoy in January 2024 to assess whether sufficient common ground existed to resume formal negotiations.

She was reappointed in May 2025 following an informal meeting in Geneva involving the two Cypriot sides and guarantor powers Türkiye, Greece and Britain. Her current mandate includes maintaining contacts between the parties and supporting confidence-building measures.

Formal U.N.-brokered negotiations have remained stalled since talks in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, ended without an agreement in 2017.

Other diplomatic contacts

Fidan also spoke by phone with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Friday. The ministers discussed the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war and Black Sea security, Turkish diplomatic sources said.

The call followed Fidan’s visit to Kiev the previous week, during which the two ministers held talks and a joint press conference.

Fidan separately met Gen. Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of the Libyan National Army, in Ankara. The Foreign Ministry provided no further details about the meeting.