A UN official expressed strong disappointment over the failure to produce results at the Conference on Cyprus, that ended without an agreement in the early hours of Friday, in Switzerland.
Asked by CNA to comment on the result, the official, who wanted to remain anonymous, said in a written reply that “it was simply tragic. We were so close and in spite of this we failed. Very sad”.
There was, however, no reply to the question regarding the Secretary-General’s decision to end the conference, despite calling it “open ended”.
Commenting on the same topic, a source from the government of Cyprus said that the Secretary-General said during the conference that “there are substantial differences and we cannot continue”.
While in Crans-Montana, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said many times that the conference is a final one.
Regarding the next steps, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres referred to the role of the international organization, saying that it remains always at the disposal of all sides.
Guterres attends on Friday the G20 Summit in Hamburg, along with the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and other global leaders. US Foreign Minister Rex Tillerson will pay a visit to Ankara this Sunday and Monday, and is expected to also discuss the Cyprus issue.
The report of the Secretary-General is expected to be circulated among Security Council members on Monday. The draft report is ready and awaits the go ahead. It is not known if the Secretary General will include a reference to the unsuccessful conclusion of the Conference on Cyprus.
On July 19 Espen Barth Eide, the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, will brief the Security Council over the latest developments, ahead of the adoption of a resolution for the renewal of the UNFICYP mandate, scheduled for July 24.
UN-backed talks, which took place in Crans Montana in the past several days, ended inconclusively early on Friday morning. The peace talks aim at reuniting Cyprus, divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion, under a federal roof.
