Nicosia: New Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Cyprus and Head of UNFICYP, Khassim Diagne, is well informed about all aspects of the Cyprus problem and current developments, competent sources have said.
According to Cyprus News Agency, Diagne, who was received on Wednesday for the first time by President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace, is in direct communication with UNSG’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin, and maintains a very close relationship with UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.
The same sources said that he has not yet received a response from the new Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on arranging a meeting with him, and that it seems that Erhurman will first visit Ankara before any contact with the UN top official.
The sources note that Diagne “is particularly well informed about the issues of the Cyprus problem,” and has already visited the buffer zone and areas where tensions and provocations had been recorded from time to time. He is also expected to make efforts on the issue of the illegal detention of five Greek Cypriots in the Turkish occupied territories, as well as on strengthening the work of the technical committees.
Regarding the visit of the UNSG’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin, to the island, the same information said that the period between 3 and 11 November is being considered, however, confirmation from the United Nations is required.
The Erhurman-Diagne meeting is considered to be the key, as Holguin should know in advance that she will have a meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader.
The UN Secretary General’s goal for a new multilateral meeting on the Cyprus problem remains to hold it this year, but since there is a new Turkish Cypriot leader, this time frame may change.
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 is expected later this year.
Mara Angela Holgun, 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 Holgun.
Five Greek Cypriots were ‘arrested’ on July 19 in the Turkish-occupied village of Trikomo, in the northern part of Cyprus, while visiting their properties and were charged with ‘illegal entry’ and other charges. Although released from detention, they continue to be subjected to multiple ‘court sessions’, even as some were reported to suffer from health issues. Some charges have been dropped but they are not allowed to leave the island’s Turkish-occupied areas pending ‘trial’. The Cyprus government and the European Parliament condemned the arrests, calling for the immediate release of the five, while a European Commission spokesperson said the EU ‘does not recognise the self-proclaimed state in the northern part of Cyprus and its so-called judicial system.’