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Four new routes across the Green Line and a plan to clear mines near Deryneia are the immediate test for Cyprus’ leaders Monday as the United Nations tries to build momentum for a return to formal peace talks.
U.N. envoy María Angela Holguín is seeking answers from President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman at their meeting in the Nicosia buffer zone. Ahead of the talks, she told Turkey’s ANKA news agency that she would report a lack of progress to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres if the two sides failed to move forward. A deal, she said, could keep the effort going into next year, beyond the end of his term.
For people who regularly cross the Green Line, the most tangible proposal is a choice of four more routes. The package covers Mia Milia, Athienou–Pyroi–Aglantzia, Louroudjina–Lympia and Kampos–Karavostasi. The last route was put forward as an alternative to a crossing at Kokkina, which the Turkish Cypriot side had ruled out.
The mine clearance proposal calls for clearing 70,000 square meters on each side of the dividing line near U.N. checkpoint 10 in the Deryneia area. The Turkish Cypriot side has called for clearing mines across the island. Holguín said that should remain the goal and argued that work could begin with the areas where the sides might agree now.
Speaking before the meeting, Christodoulides said the measures being considered for a possible announcement were among 19 proposals put forward by the Greek Cypriot side. He said he was looking for concrete results and was awaiting a response from the Turkish Cypriot side.
An agreement on crossings and mine clearance could set up a meeting between the two leaders and Guterres, potentially followed by wider talks that would also bring in Greece, Turkey and Britain, the island’s three guarantor powers. The format and timing are still open, and Holguín says the sides have made less progress on how formal negotiations would resume. Among the harder questions is how the two communities would share power under a settlement, including whether the presidency would rotate between them.
Holguín’s argument is that people should see the benefits of agreements as they are reached. Opening a crossing or getting firefighters from both communities working together in an emergency, she said, could help build the trust needed for the harder talks ahead.
