Informal Geneva conference on Cyprus gets under way

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (second from left) talks to Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades (right) during their meeting on the first day of the five-party informal conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Guterres also held a meeting with Turkish-Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar. Discussions in the Swiss city will also feature delegations from Greece, Turkey and the UK – all guarantor powers of Cyprus. Expectations have been tempered by Turkish insistence on a two-state solution rather than the decades-long agreed basis of a bizonal, bicommunal federation backed by the UN, Cyprus, Greece and the EU. [Stavros Ioannides/ANA-MPA]