Turkish foreign minister, UN chief discuss Lebanon, Ukraine

By Can Efesoy

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday discussed the latest news from both Lebanon and Ukraine with the UN secretary-general.

According to Turkish diplomatic sources, Fidan and Antonio Guterres talked about the two ongoing conflicts in a phone call.

Israel has stepped up its attacks on Lebanon in recent weeks, killing thousands of civilians and even wounding UN peacekeepers, while Russia’s war on Ukraine is over 2 1/2 years old.

During the call, the two also addressed issues related to the divided island of Cyprus.

Ersin Tatar, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), announced Tuesday that his next meeting with Guterres would include representatives of both Türkiye and Greece.

Tatar made the remark following an informal dinner at UN headquarters with Nikos Christodoulides, leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration.

- Decades-long dispute

The island of Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.

Türkiye fully supports a two-state solution on the island of Cyprus based on sovereign equality and equal international status.

*Writing by Esra Tekin in Istanbul