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After years of stalled negotiations and little visible progress, the United Nations' top official is heading to Cyprus in a renewed effort to move the island's decades-old division forward.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit Cyprus from July 27 to 29, where he is expected to hold separate meetings with President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, followed by a joint trilateral meeting.
The visit comes at a time when many Cypriots remain skeptical that another round of diplomacy will bring meaningful change after decades of failed peace efforts.
According to reports from the occupied north, Guterres will arrive on July 27, with official talks taking place over the following two days.
He will be accompanied by Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peace Affairs, and Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.
While Cyprus has hosted countless rounds of peace talks over the years, this will be Guterres' first official visit to the island since becoming UN Secretary-General. The last sitting UN chief to visit Cyprus was Ban Ki-moon, who came in 2010.
Beyond meetings with the two leaders, Guterres is also expected to meet members of the island's bicommunal technical committees, which work on practical issues affecting both communities, as well as representatives of civil society organizations.
The visit follows renewed diplomatic activity on the Cyprus issue in recent months, with the UN continuing efforts to keep dialogue alive despite long-standing disagreements over the framework for a future settlement.
For many people living on both sides of the divide, however, the question remains the same: will this visit lead to real progress, or become another chapter in the island's long history of missed opportunities?
