The UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin, will be returning to the island next week and will meet both Cyprus leaders on Tuesday, 27th January, UN in Cyprus Spokesperson Aleem Siddique told CNA.
According to Siddique, the meeting with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides will take place at 10am and with the Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman at 2pm. No other meetings are confirmed yet, he noted.
Furthermore, CNA learns that President Christodoulides expressed his desire for a joint meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader and Holguin.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
In 2025 the Secretary-General hosted two informal meetings on Cyprus, in March in Geneva and in July in New York, while a tripartite meeting with the Cyprus leaders was also held in late September, at the end of the UN General Assembly High Level Week. An informal meeting in broader format that was expected to take place before the end of 2025, is yet to be announced.
María Angela Holguín, the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties, while former European Commissioner Johannes Hahn, designated by the Commission as Special Envoy for Cyprus, is also expected to contribute to the settlement process, in cooperation with Holguín.