WEB DESK
The talks aimed at ending Cyprus’s drawn-out conflict collapsed today without a deal, despite an 11th-hour bid by the UN chief. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told reporters that despite the very strong commitment and engagement of all the delegations and the different parties, the Conference on Cyprus was closed without an agreement being reached.
Cyprus is one of the world’s longest-running political crises. The UN-backed talks that began in the Swiss Alpine resort of Crans-Montana on June 28 had been considered as the best chance to end the island’s 40-year division.The failure to reach a deal brings an end to more than two years of UN-backed efforts to resolve the conflict.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and later occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired revolt seeking union with Greece.
UN mediator Espen Barth Eide is to brief the Security Council on the outcome of the talks on July 19. The briefing comes ahead of a vote, scheduled for July 24, on the future of the UN peacekeeping force deployed on the island since 1964.