Fidan set to meet Turkish Cypriot leaders

ANKARA

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will visit Turkish Cyprus on Nov. 6 for talks with the divided island’s northern administration on bilateral ties and recent developments, Turkish diplomatic sources have said.

During the working visit, Fidan will be received by Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman and Prime Minister Ünal Üstel and meet with his counterpart, Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, the sources said.

The meetings are expected to focus on bilateral issues and recent developments in efforts to address the decades-long Cyprus dispute.

Türkiye maintains that the most realistic solution to the Cyprus issue is the coexistence of two states on the island, arguing that the Turkish Cypriots’ sovereign equality and equal international status, which it describes as their inherent rights, must be recognized by the international community.

Ankara says the dispute has remained unresolved because the Greek Cypriot side has refused to recognize the inherent rights of the northern part and share political power and economic prosperity with them.

Türkiye also says it will continue efforts, in its capacity as the motherland and a guarantor power, to ensure the security, development and welfare of Turkish Cypriots.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on the international community to recognize Turkish Cypriot in his addresses during the high-level week of the U.N. General Assembly every year since 2022.

The visit comes against the backdrop of ongoing UN efforts to foster functional cooperation between the two sides on the island, despite the persistent lack of common ground for a comprehensive settlement.

Following an informal trilateral dinner between U.N. chief Antonio Guterres and the two island leaders in New York on Oct. 15, 2024, the United Nations confirmed that there was no common ground for a final settlement under the prevailing circumstances.

A new process was launched in 2025, following a proposal by Guterres, to identify areas of cooperation that could benefit both communities and build trust through a culture of cooperation.

The first expanded informal meeting, involving the two island leaders, the foreign ministers of Türkiye and Greece and a British minister of state, was held in Geneva in March 2025. Six areas of potential cooperation were identified.

A second meeting in the same format took place in New York four months later to review progress. However, no breakthrough has been achieved on key issues, including the opening of new crossing points.

Guterres visited the island for the first time on July 27-29, holding bilateral and trilateral meetings with the leaders.

Following the meetings, he said efforts on the identified areas of cooperation needed to be intensified and that he had decided to organize a meeting in a 5+1 format after the necessary preparations were completed. He stressed, however, that he did not want a meeting that would fail to produce results.

The U.N. chief also held separate meetings with the two leaders on the sidelines of the high-level week of the 81st U.N. General Assembly.

Meanwhile, María Angela Holguin Cuellar, the U.N. secretary-general’s personal envoy on Cyprus, is visiting the island from Oct. 29 to Nov. 10.

Holguin held separate meetings with Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides on Oct. 30 and Erhürman on Nov. 2 as part of her visit.