21st century in Cyprus

Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis met on Tuesday with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' new personal envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar.

The meeting in Athens was the first between the two officials since Cuellar was appointed to the post in a bid to restart stalled talks on the Cyprus issue.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus for a year and urged all parties including rival Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots to take steps "to de-escalate tensions in and around the buffer zone" dividing the Mediterranean island.

Cyprus announced a series of gestures to support estranged Turkish Cypriots on Friday, days before the visit of a United Nations envoy who will assess prospects for the resumption of long-stalled peace talks.

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler hailed the good state of relations with Greece on Wednesday, expressing Ankara's desire for peace, but also noting that it will not back down on the Cyprus issue.

At a time of apparent mobility on the Cyprus issue despite Ankara's hard line, Athens and Nicosia reaffirmed their common stance during the meeting on Monday between visiting Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. 

Despite the fact that for the time being Ankara appears immovable, Nicosia is sensing a willingness on the part of the international community to support new negotiations for the resolution of the Cyprus problem, with the "window of opportunity" that has opened with the perceived turn of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan toward the West.