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U.N. Good Offices in Cyprus:
to Reunify an Island Divided

U.N. diplomatic efforts dating to the 1960s have sought a comprehensive and mutually acceptable settlement to the Cyprus problem. A United Nations peacekeeping mission, UNFICYP, has been stationed on the Island since 1964.

The role of the Department of Political Affairs has been to provide political guidance and staff support to the diplomatic efforts of successive Secretaries-General to achieve a settlement. A UN-brokered plan submitted to simultaneous referenda in 2004 was accepted by the Turkish Cypriots and rejected by the Greek Cypriots.

New reunification talks began in September 2008 between Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, facilitated by the Secretary-General’s current Special Adviser for Cyprus, Alexander Downer. 

Renewed UN efforts on Cyprus were profiled in the Summer-Fall 2008 Issue of Politically Speaking, the Bulletin of the Department of Political Affairs.