The key facts

  • Ustel met with UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar at the headquarters of the National Unity Party
  • He stated that the federal model was exhausted after Crans-Montana 2017 and repeated attempts to revive it will not help a settlement
  • Ustel cited Guterres' visit to Cyprus on July 27–29, 2026 as confirmation of the absence of common ground for formal negotiations

Statement after meeting with the UN envoy

Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Unal Ustel stated that efforts to achieve a federal settlement of the Cyprus problem ended at the Crans-Montana conference in 2017. He made this remark to journalists after a meeting with the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy on Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, held at the headquarters of the National Unity Party (UBP), Anadolu reports.

The essence of the Turkish Cypriot position

According to Ustel, he clearly conveyed the messages of the Turkish Cypriots to the UN envoy. He claims that, despite years of goodwill and a constructive approach from the Turkish Cypriot side, the Greek Cypriot administration has shown no willingness to accept a partnership based on political equality and power-sharing — and this, in his assessment, became evident once again at the Crans-Montana conference. He sees the root of the problem in the fact that the international community recognizes the Greek Cypriot administration as the sole state and representative of the island, and this, as he put it, unjustly granted international status allows the existing status quo to persist.

Rejection of the federal model

“The search for an agreement on a federal basis ended at Crans-Montana,” Anadolu quotes Ustel as saying. In his words, re-proposing a model whose failure has been repeatedly proven under various names and methods will not contribute to resolving the Cyprus question. He emphasized that there are two separate peoples and two states on the island, and referred to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' visit to Cyprus on July 27–29, 2026, which, in his view, once again demonstrated the absence of common ground for launching formal negotiations.

Demand for recognition of two states

Ustel stated that a realistic, sustainable and lasting settlement is possible only through recognition of the sovereign equality of the island's two peoples and two states, and called on the international community, first and foremost the UN, to recognize the political realities on the island. His remarks confirm the Turkish Cypriot leadership's line that future negotiations should be built on sovereign equality and equal international status rather than on the traditional federal framework. The statement reflects the position of the TRNC prime minister; the reaction of the Greek Cypriot side or the UN to the meeting is not given in the publication.