Resolution 716 (1991)
of 11 October 1991

The Security Council,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General of
8 October 1991 on his mission of good offices in Cyprus, 117

Noting with satisfaction the progress made in preparing a
set of ideas as the basis for arriving at an agreed overall
framework agreement on Cyprus,

Noting with concern the difficulties encountered in completing this work,

Regretting that it was not possible to convene the high-level
international meeting foreseen in the statement made by the
President of the Security Council on 28 June 1991, 116

1. Commends the Secretary-General for his efforts during
the past few months, and endorses his report and observations;

2. Reaffirms its previous resolutions on Cyprus;

3. Reaffirms also its position on the Cyprus question,
expressed most recently in resolution 649 (1990) of 12 March
1990 and in line with the high-level agreements of 1977 111 and
1979 112 between the parties in Cyprus, that the fundamental
principles of a Cyprus settlement are the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and non-alignment of the Republic
of Cyprus, the exclusion of union in whole or in part with any
other country and of any form of partition or secession and the
establishment of a new constitutional arrangement for Cyprus
that would ensure the well-being and security of the Greek
Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities in a bi-communal
and bi-zonal federation;

4. Reaffirms further that its position on the solution to the
Cyprus problem is based on one State of Cyprus comprising
two politically equal communities as defined by the Secretary-General in the eleventh paragraph of annex I to his report of
8 March 1990; 118

5. Calls upon the parties to adhere fully to these principles and to negotiate within the framework of them without
introducing concepts that are at variance with them;

6. Reaffirms that the Secretary-General’s mission of good
offices is with the two communities whose participation in the
process is on an equal footing;

7. Endorses the Secretary-General’s intention to resume
discussions in early November with the two parties in Cyprus
and Greece and Turkey to complete the set of ideas on an
overall framework agreement;

8. Considers that convening a high-level international
meeting chaired by the Secretary-General in which the two
communities and Greece and Turkey would participate
represents an effective mechanism for concluding an overall
framework agreement on Cyprus;

9. Requests the leaders of the two communities and
Greece and Turkey to cooperate fully with the Secretary-General and his representatives so that the high-level international
meeting can be convened before the end of this year;

10. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the
Security Council in November 1991 whether sufficient progress
has been made to convene the high-level international meeting
and, should conditions not be ripe, to convey to the Council the
set of ideas as they will have evolved by that time with his
assessment of the situation.

Adopted unanimously at the 3013th
meeting
