Two months ago, President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York to find a way forward in the peace process, on which there has been no movement for seven years. Guterres suggested a meeting of the two leaders and the representatives of the three guarantor powers to establish the common ground necessary for the resumption of some type of process.

It might not be the resumption of talks from the point at which they were stopped in Crans Montana in 2017, as Christodoulides has been incessantly demanding, but a different process, involving Turkey and Greece that have been engaged in a multi-level dialogue aimed at mending relations. Nothing definite was agreed in New York in October, but Guterres said he would send UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo to the area for talks with all sides before the so-called five-party meeting is arranged.

He asked the two leaders, in the meantime, to engage in some confidence-building measures such as the opening of more crossing points which both sides seem to want. Two months later, despite the efforts of the UNSG’s Special Representative Colin Stewart, there has been no agreement on any crossing point, the sides playing the usual tactical games. Stewart said at an Unficyp reception last week that he had hoped to announce an agreement that evening, but it was a difficult task.    

On Tuesday, he had separate meetings with the two leaders and after seeing Tatar, he said that the opening of the Pyla-Arsos road was considered very important to the Turkish Cypriots. This was the road that caused a row 18 months ago when Turkish Cypriot policemen attacked Unficyp officials who had tried to stop the work. The two sides supposedly reached an agreement over the Pyla road, but it did not last, the bickering resuming before any of the roadworks resumed. Tatar has now brought it up again and Stewart agreed that it was also very important for him to address the Pyla road situation.

President Christodoulides, according to his spokesman, also gave his proposals to Stewart during his meeting and expressed his readiness to meet Tatar with the sole purpose of discussing the opening of new crossing points. Nothing specific was said by the spokesman, who nevertheless, said the president told Stewart that he was ready for a resumption of talks from the point they broke off in 2017.

Stewart said this was the best opportunity since 2017 to get some positive movement on issues that people cared about, such as the opening of new crossing points. He has not set the bar very high, but perhaps the taking of small steps is what is needed after seven years of stagnation. So far, despite the public rhetoric, neither leader seems prepared to take even a small step. And by introducing the Pyla-Arsos road into the equation, Tatar may be hoping Christodoulides would refuse to discuss it – the dispute remains unresolved since the summer of 2023 – and the idea of a face-to-face meeting would be abandoned.

It seems both leaders are happy with the deadlock and neither is prepared to make the small step that would threaten it.