Both Disy and Turkish Cypriot political party the CTP on Friday stressed that the forthcoming visit of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the island is an opportunity which must not be wasted.

Disy leader Annita Demetriou described the visit as a “particularly important development” and “an opportunity which we must seize with seriousness, responsibility and national understanding”.

“It requires a common commitment to our national goal: the achievement of a comprehensive and sustainable solution to the Cyprus problem. The resumption of negotiations is the necessary step to get there,” she said.

She added that her party will “continue to support every substantive effort which will create the conditions for the resumption of negotiations and real progress” towards “a solution without occupying troops, anachronistic guarantees, and intervention rights”.

Such a solution, she said, “will ensure conditions of security and prosperity for all legal residents of the Republic of Cyprus”.

CTP deputy leader Asim Akansoy, meanwhile, said that Guterres’ visit is evidence that the Cyprus problem “has regained importance within the changing regional and global balances”.

“Today, the world is going through a historical period marked by wars, security crises, and geopolitical restructuring on a scale not seen for many years. The eastern Mediterranean has become one of the most critical centres of transformation in terms of energy, security, trade routes, and regional balances,” he said.

As such, he added, Guterres’ visit “demonstrates that the Cyprus issue is being addressed not only as a problem between the two communities, but also as a strategic topic which directly affects regional stability”.

“For precisely this reason, the political stance adopted by the Turkish Cypriot people at a time when the will for a solution has regained strength is of paramount importance. Our people’s expectations for the future are focused on a mutually acceptable, lasting, and sustainable solution,” he said.

He added that that solution must be “based on UN security council resolutions, international law, and guaranteeing political equality”.

However, not all actors were pleased with the news of Guterres’ imminent arrival, with the north’s ‘foreign ministry’ stressing that UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin had in July last year said that no common ground for a solution exists between the island’s two sides.

The state of affairs has changed since then, with pro-federal solution candidate Tufan Erhurman being elected as Turkish Cypriot leader in October last year, with he and President Nikos Christodoulides agreeing in December last year that “the real aim is a solution … with political equality”, and Guterres having undertaken a “new initiative” to bring about talks in recent months.

Despite this, the ‘ministry’ asserted that “the TRNC entirely rejects these new developments as initiatives aimed at mortgaging the will of the Turkish Cypriot people”, and warned that “bringing back previously failed models in different forms does not contribute to the search for an agreement”.

Instead, it said, it “only serves to perpetuate the current status quo which benefits the Greek Cypriots”.

It therefore called on the UN to “recognise the just and legitimate status of the Turkish Cypriot people, to lift the isolation of the TRNC without further delay, and to respect the existence of two sovereign, equal states and two peoples on the island of Cyprus”.

Guterres will arrive on the island on the evening of July 27, before meeting both Christodoulides and Erhurman at their official residences, visiting the Committee on Missing Persions (CMP), and holding an evening meal with both leaders on July 28. He will then hold a trilateral meeting with both leaders on July 29.