UN chief praises new talks on reviving the peace process for divided Cyprus

GENEVA (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday he will appoint an envoy to help shepherd a divided Cyprus toward long-lasting peace, as he hailed a “constructive atmosphere” in talks with Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders.

The U.N. chief spoke after an informal meeting in Geneva with Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar that aimed to breathe new life into a peace process on hiatus for nearly eight years.

The Mediterranean island was divided when Turkey invaded the northern part in 1974 following a failed coup by supporters of a union with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence, and has more than 35,000 troops in the island’s northern third.

Although Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004, only the Greek Cypriot south, where the internationally recognized government is seated, enjoys full membership benefits.

“These discussions were held in a constructive atmosphere, with both sides showing clear commitment to making progress and continuing dialogue,” Guterres told reporters.

He said Christodoulides and Tatar agreed to trust-building initiatives on issues like energy, environment, opening four new crossing points along a U.N. controlled buffer zone, youth affairs and de-mining, and that he will appoint an envoy to "prepare the next steps” for a new meeting at the end of July to take stock of progress.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis were on hand for the talks along with Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty of Britain, a former colonial ruler of Cyprus that maintains two military bases on the island.

Although the meeting fell short of the stated aim of reanimating a comatose formal peace process, Christodoulides praised it as a “first, significant, positive step" in that direction.

Getting the peace process back on track faces significant challenges as a wide chasm continues to separate both sides on the kind of peace deal each would like to see.

Tatar and Turkey insist a two-state deal is now the only way to resolve one of the world’s most intractable disputes since the "old" model — a federation made up of Greek and Turkish speaking zones — is no longer valid after decades of failure.

“For four years I have been promulgating that unless our sovereign equality and sovereign equal international status (to Greek Cypriots) is endorsed, we will not be seating to negotiate the Cyprus problem,” Tatar said after the conclusion of the meeting.

Greek Cypriots say any deal that entrenches the island’s partition is a non-starter as it contravenes long-held U.N. resolutions endorsing a federation.

They also reject a Turkish and Turkish Cypriot demand for a permanent Turkish troop presence and military intervention rights under any accord, as well as a giving the minority Turkish Cypriots veto power over all federal-level government decisions.

Associated Press writer Menelaos Hadjicostis contributed from Nicosia, Cyprus.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar attends a press conference on the day of a meeting to discuss future of stalled peace talks over the divided island of Cyprus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Pierre Albouy/Keystone via AP)

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar attends a press conference on the day of a meeting to discuss future of stalled peace talks over the divided island of Cyprus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

Women sit on a bench next to a checkpoint crossing point at Ledra street in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

A painting showing a soldier is seen across the U.N buffer zone in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

A Cyprus' and a Greek flags, are seen on the pols in the south, as in the background are seen the minarets of the Selimiye mosque, or Cathedral of St Sophia, or Agia Sofia, in the Turkish occupied area in the north, in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

From left, Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar pose for a photo, ahead of a meeting to discuss the future of stalled peace talks over the divided island of Cyprus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Pierre Albouy/Keystone via AP)

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar attends a meeting to discuss the future of stalled peace talks over the divided island of Cyprus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Pierre Albouy/Keystone via AP)

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides attends a meeting to discuss the future of stalled peace talks over the divided island of Cyprus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Pierre Albouy/Keystone via AP)

From left, Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar pose for a photo, ahead of a meeting to discuss the future of stalled peace talks over the divided island of Cyprus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Pierre Albouy/Keystone via AP)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrives to attend a meeting to discuss the future of stalled peace talks over the divided island of Cyprus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Pierre Albouy/Keystone via AP)

ROME (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the Vatican could be a venue for Russia-Ukraine peace talks, taking up the Holy See’s longstanding offer after Pope Leo XIV vowed to personally make “every effort” to help end the war.

Speaking to reporters in Rome before meeting with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Vatican point man on Ukraine, Rubio said that he would be discussing potential ways the Vatican could help, “the status of the talks, the updates after yesterday (Friday) and the path forward.”

Asked if the Vatican could be a peace broker, Rubio replied: “I wouldn’t call it broker, but it’s certainly — I think it’s a place that both sides would be comfortable going.”

“So we’ll talk about all of that and obviously always grateful to the Vatican for their willingness to play this constructive and positive role,” said Rubio, who also met Saturday with the Vatican secretary of state and foreign minister.

The Vatican has a tradition of diplomatic neutrality and had long offered its services, and venues, to try to help facilitate talks, but found itself sidelined during the all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022.

Pope Francis, who occasionally angered both Kyiv and Moscow with his off-the-cuff comments, had entrusted Zuppi with a mandate to try to find paths of peace. But the mandate seemed to narrow to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken by Russia, and the Holy See also was able to mediate some prisoner exchanges.

During their meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Rubio thanked Zuppi for the Vatican's humanitarian role, citing in particular prisoner swaps and the return of Ukrainian children. Rubio “emphasized the importance of continued collaboration under the new leadership of Pope Leo XIV,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.

Leo, who was elected history’s first American pope on May 8, took up Francis’ call for peace in Ukraine in his first Sunday noon blessing as pope. He appealed for all sides to do whatever possible to reach “an authentic, just and lasting peace.”

Leo, who as a bishop in Peru had called Russia's war an “imperialist invasion," vowed this week personally to “make every effort so that this peace may prevail.”

In a speech to eastern rite Catholics, including the Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine, Leo begged warring sides to meet and negotiate.

“The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies together, face to face, to talk to one another, so that peoples everywhere may once more find hope and recover the dignity they deserve, the dignity of peace,” he said.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, repeated the Vatican’s offer to serve as a venue for direct talks, saying the failure of negotiations in Istanbul to reach a ceasefire this week was “tragic.”

“We had hoped it could start a process, slow but positive, toward a peaceful solution to the conflict,” Parolin said on the sidelines of a conference. “But instead we’re back to the beginning.”

Asked concretely what such an offer would entail, Parolin said that the Vatican could serve as a venue for a direct meeting between the two sides.

“One would aim to arrive at this, that at least they talk. We’ll see what happens. It’s an offer of a place,” he said.

“We have always said, repeated to the two sides that we are available to you, with all the discretion needed,” Parolin said.

The Vatican scored what was perhaps its greatest diplomatic achievement of the Francis pontificate when it facilitated the talks between the United States and Cuba in 2014 that resulted in the resumption of diplomatic relations.

The Holy See has also often hosted far less secret diplomatic initiatives, such as when it brought together the rival leaders of South Sudan in 2019. The encounter was made famous by the image of Francis bending down to kiss their feet to beg them to make peace.

Perhaps the Holy See's most critical diplomatic initiative came during the peak of the Cuban missile crisis when, in the fall of 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ordered a secret deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba that were soon detected by U.S. spy planes.

As the Kennedy administration considered its response, with the threat of nuclear war looming, Pope John XXIII pleaded for peace in a public radio address, in a speech to Vatican ambassadors and also wrote privately to Kennedy and Khruschev, appealing to their love of their people to stand down.

Many historians have credited John XXIII’s appeals with helping both sides step back from the brink of nuclear war.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaks to the media during a meeting with President of the Conference of Italian Bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and President of the Conference of Italian Bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, pose for a photo at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and President of the Conference of Italian Bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, meet at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and President of the Conference of Italian Bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, pose for a photo at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in Rome, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)