23 July 2018•Update: 24 July 2018
By Murat Demirci
LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
The Turkish Cypriot president on Monday received the UN envoy a year after the collapse of the latest talks meant to resolve the dispute over the divided island.
Mustafa Akinci met with Jane Holl Lute, a temporary special consultant on Cyprus for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at the Presidential Place in the capital Lefkosa.
The meeting lasted for around two hours and included Erhan Elcin, Akinci’s special advisor on diplomacy and the European Union.
No statements were made after the meeting.
Meanwhile, members of the “Bi-Communal Peace Initiative United Cyprus” demonstrated in front of the presidency carrying signs saying, “Peace and Solution Now,” in English, Turkish, and Greek.
Lute -- a former U.S. deputy secretary for homeland security -- is on the long-divided island to test a possible continuation of reunifications talks.
Earlier in the morning, Lute met with Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades.
Later on Monday, TRNC presidential spokesman Baris Burcu gave details of the meeting with Lute in a statement.
Describing their talks as “useful,” Burcu said: “During the meeting, Akinci explained to Lute in detail the reasons why a solution [for Cyprus] has not been reached to date despite all the positive efforts of the Turkish Cypriot side.”
He added that Akinci told Lute about the Turkish side’s constructive initiatives during negotiations.
Burcu added that the Turkish Cypriot side has made clear that it does not want to be part of “open-ended” negotiations that are “full of uncertainties” in the future.
Separately, Akinci also received Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
On his Twitter account, Cavusoglu wrote that the meeting was to "discuss possible ways forward on the Cyprus issue in the coming period".
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by violence against the island's Turks, and Ankara's intervention as a guarantor power.
The Greek Cypriot administration is a member of the EU and is internationally recognized by all nations except Turkey, which remains the only country that recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
In 2017, after two years of negotiations, the latest attempt to reunify the long-divided Mediterranean island ended in failure.
