Two separate meetings of UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peace Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo with leaders of the two communities began in the expected atmosphere. A senior United Nations diplomat who is on a two-day visit to Cyprus met with President Christodoulidis and then with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar. The seasoned diplomat is called upon to explore whether there is fertile ground for resuming the six-year-frozen negotiations on the Cyprus issue, and continuation is determined, according to K, by two important developments:

• If the UN Secretary General António Guterres on the basis of what was recorded in Cyprus by Ms. DiCarlo will indeed see President Christodoulidis on the sidelines of the European Council on March 23-24 in Brussels, an issue promoted by the Greek Cypriot side and raised during the DiCarlo-PTD meeting and
• Whether a UN mission of a special envoy of the Secretary-General will indeed be sent in the coming months, a move that some seasoned observers find extremely difficult in the near future, if elections in Turkey on May 14 are not specified.

In any event, the Greek Cypriot side sent a message to Ms. DiCarlo on her readiness to reopen the Cyprus question, and President Christodoulidis informed the UN diplomat of the initiative he is seeking for a more active involvement of the EU in this process, for a new meeting with Tatars and for an immediate response from Nicosia in case Secretary-General António Guterres decides that he should meet with the two leaders, and sends an appropriate invitation. DiCarlo’s descent confirms the UN’s interest in the Cyprus issue, despite the fact that the process is still considered difficult.

At the Dicarlo-Tatars meeting, the Turkish Cypriot leader reaffirmed his firm belief in sovereign equality and the existence of two separate states in Cyprus. In particular, Mr. Tatar repeated to the UN representative “his vision” – as he has been calling it since April 2021 in Geneva – which focuses on the perception of a part of the Turkish Cypriots of a separate, internationally recognized state. Mr. Tatar, as expected, does not approach the scenario of European mediation on the Cyprus issue too hotly, crystallizing the persistent perception in the occupied territories of Brussels’ bias in favor of the Greek Cypriot community. He even repeated it yesterday to Mrs. DiCarlo, and earlier Mario Navas (former Director General for Structural Reforms of the European Commission) with characteristic words about “the rejection of the integration of the Republic of Turkey into the EU if the Cyprus problem is solved.”

Di Carlo’s arrival comes at a time when Nicosia is moving along the UN-EU-Greece axis to break the impasse on the Cyprus issue. The initiative of the active participation of the European Union by appointing a person who will help in the negotiations, always within the framework of the UN, is the best bet of the government of Christodoulidis in the early days of his reign and inevitably takes place on the sidelines of the European Council 23^her-24^her March due to the presence in Brussels of the UN Secretary-General António Guterres. President Christodoulidis appears to have raised the bar on what appears to be, and indeed is, a difficult equation, and will therefore unofficially see a number of foreign leaders including Em. Macron, as well as all European leadership and institutions.

However, in any case, the timing of the Turkish elections is the main criterion by which both the international actor and the UN use the process of restarting the Cyprus issue, with all the ensuing consequences for the timetable of events in the near future. DiCarlo came to Cyprus, saw and heard about the Cyprus issue… we see.