Üstel to Holguín: Search for a Federal Settlement Exhausted at Crans-Montana

National Unity Party (UBP) leader and Prime Minister Ünal Üstel received United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Cyprus María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar at the UBP headquarters.

Üstel was accompanied at the meeting by Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu, Labour and Social Security Minister Oğuzhan Hasipoğlu, UBP Secretary-General Ahmet Savaşan and Economy and Energy Minister Hasan Taçoy.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Prime Minister Ünal Üstel said the Cyprus issue was fundamentally a question of status, stressing that efforts to reach a settlement based on a federation had been exhausted at Crans-Montana.

“THE CYPRUS ISSUE IS FUNDAMENTALLY A QUESTION OF STATUS”

Prime Minister Üstel said he had told Holguín during the meeting that the Cyprus issue was fundamentally a question of status.

He said the source of the problem was the international community's treatment of the Greek Cypriot Administration as the island's sole state and representative, while treating the Turkish Cypriot people as though they were merely one of its communities. He added that this mistaken approach had created a serious imbalance between the two sides.

Üstel said he had explained to his interlocutor that the international status unfairly enjoyed by the Greek Cypriot Administration enabled it to maintain the existing status quo.

“THE GREEK CYPRIOT SIDE HAS NO INTENTION OF ACCEPTING A PARTNERSHIP BASED ON POLITICAL EQUALITY AND POWER-SHARING”

Üstel said he had reminded Holguín that, despite the goodwill and constructive approach consistently demonstrated by the Turkish Cypriot people, the Greek Cypriot Administration had shown at the 2017 Crans-Montana Conference that it had no intention of accepting a partnership based on political equality and power-sharing.

“THE SEARCH FOR A FEDERAL SETTLEMENT WAS EXHAUSTED AT CRANS-MONTANA”

Underlining that the search for a settlement on the basis of a federation had been exhausted at Crans-Montana, Üstel said reviving a model whose failure had been repeatedly demonstrated under different names or through different methods would not contribute to resolving the Cyprus issue. On the contrary, he argued, it would lead to the continuation of the existing status quo, which served the interests of the Greek Cypriot Administration.

“THERE ARE TWO SEPARATE PEOPLES AND TWO SOVEREIGNLY EQUAL STATES ON THE ISLAND”

Pointing out that there were two separate peoples and two sovereignly equal states on the island, Prime Minister Üstel said he had stressed the need to adopt a new and realistic approach in line with this reality on the ground.

Üstel emphasised that achieving a sustainable and mutually acceptable settlement would only be possible through the reaffirmation of the sovereign equality and equal international status, which he described as the inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot people.

“GUTERRES’ VISIT ONCE AGAIN REVEALED THE ABSENCE OF COMMON GROUND”

Prime Minister Üstel said UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ visit to the island on July 27–29, 2026, had once again demonstrated that there was no common ground that would allow formal negotiations to begin.

“IMPOSED FACTS IGNORING THE WILL OF THE TURKISH CYPRIOT PEOPLE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED”

Üstel said attempts to create an artificial fait accompli that disregarded the will of the Turkish Cypriot people and contradicted realities on the island, or to impose parameters on the Turkish Cypriot people without their agreement, would not be accepted.

He said repeatedly failed models being brought back in different forms did not contribute to efforts to reach an agreement between the two sides and merely served to maintain the existing status quo, which benefited only the Greek Cypriot side.

“THE UN AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST NOW RECOGNISE THE REALITIES ON THE ISLAND”

Prime Minister Ünal Üstel said the path towards a realistic, sustainable and lasting settlement in Cyprus lay in the recognition of the sovereign equality of the two states and two peoples on the island.

Üstel called on the United Nations and the international community to recognise the realities on the island.