Some work for the country. One wants the throne

António Guterres’s visit to the island was no small thing, and it didn’t come out of nowhere, nor was it some polite farewell tour timed to his term running out. Consider this: the last time a UN Secretary-General made a comparable visit was January 2010. Once that sinks in, the weight of Guterres’s presence in Cyprus on 28 and 29 July becomes obvious.

At the same time, everything that’s happened since March 2023 needs weighing up too: what Nicosia actually did, how the Turkish Cypriot and...