UN rejects claims Guterres used different standards on Cyprus and Syria

New York, United States. The United Nations has rejected suggestions that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres applied different standards to Cyprus and Syria, saying references to parties in the Cyprus issue are made when they are considered helpful to advancing the peace process.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq responded on Monday to a question from I24 News journalist Mike Wagenheim, who compared Guterres’ recent remarks on Syria with comments made during his visit to Cyprus.

Comparison of statements

Wagenheim noted that Guterres had said Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity must be fully respected, and that Israel’s violations of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement were unacceptable and must stop.

He contrasted those remarks with Guterres’ statement in Cyprus, where the Secretary-General said he supported the Cypriot communities in their search for a comprehensive and sustainable settlement of the Cyprus problem, without referring to Turkey.

Asked whether Turkey was off limits, Haq said the comparison was not valid because the two situations were fundamentally different.

“I would need hours, possibly days, to fully explain the differences between the situation in Cyprus and the situation in the Golan Heights,” he said.

UN framework

Haq referred to relevant UN Security Council resolutions and discussions held at the United Nations during the 1970s, saying each conflict had developed within its own legal and political framework.

“Each case has its own dynamics and the positions expressed by the Secretary General are consistent with the policies followed by the UN, essentially, over the last 50 years in each of these cases,” he said.

References to parties

On the absence of a reference to Turkey in Guterres’ recent remarks, Haq said the Secretary-General had referred to all parties involved in Cyprus on numerous occasions.

“He does it when it is useful to make such reports,” Haq said.

He added that Guterres had been in Cyprus with the specific aim of encouraging dialogue between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.