Turkey's Fidan heads to New York for Cyprus talks as Libya tensions flare

ANKARA — Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will travel to New York on Wednesday for talks on Cyprus hosted by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to a Turkish Foreign Ministry source.

The talks come amid rising tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean over a controversial Turkish-Libyan maritime deal that awaits ratification by the Libyan Parliament.

What happened: A Turkish Foreign Ministry source said Tuesday that Fidan will travel to New York for a two-day visit. Also attending the talks to be held July 16-17 are Fidan’s Greek counterpart, Giorgos Gerapetritis, as well as Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and British Foreign Office Minister for Europe Stephen Doughty, according to the source.

The talks aim to “improve the culture of cooperation” between the two Cypriot administrations, the source added.

Cyprus remains ethnically divided between the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the latter recognized only by Turkey since its 1974 military intervention on the island following a Greek-led coup aimed at uniting it with Greece.

Britain, Greece and Turkey — which governed Cyprus until it gained independence in 1960 — remain guarantors of the island. Turkey does not recognize the Greek Cypriot-led Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union.

Background: A previous round of talks was held in Geneva in March, when the five parties agreed to establish technical committees to cooperate on a series of issues.

While some progress had been made on setting up committees on climate change, cemetery restoration and youth cooperation, efforts stalled on politically sensitive issues — new crossing points, mine clearance and solar power in the buffer zone — due to what the Turkish source described as the Greek Cypriot side’s intransigence.

Why it matters: Tensions have been building up in the Eastern Mediterranean over the Turkish-Libyan maritime deal.

Libya’s eastern-based parliament is considering ratifying the agreement that Turkey signed with the country’s internationally recognized government in 2019.

Greece and the Republic of Cyprus strongly reject the agreement, claiming that it encroaches on their maritime boundaries.

European Union leaders in June declared the agreement legally invalid following a renewed diplomatic push by Greece and the Republic of Cyprus to block ratification by the Libyan Parliament.

Ankara hit back against the EU move, with Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli saying, “The conclusions demonstrate that Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration continue their efforts to impose their maximalist claims.”

“Turkey will firmly continue to defend its legitimate rights and interests in the Eastern Mediterranean,” he added.

Know more: The eastern-based parliament in Tobruk, aligned with strongman Khalifa Hifter, had originally opposed the 2019 maritime accord when it was signed, but as relations between Ankara and the Hifter bloc improve, the parliament has softened its stance over the deal.  

This developing story has been updated since initial publication.