Ankara mulls to put an end to Cyprus talks

While the Greek Cypriot administration started to discuss the next moves after the collapse of the peace talks to unite the divided island, the Turkish government is also in a similar exercise.

The Foreign Ministry's tendency appears to put an end to the Cyprus talks once and for all. The final decision will be taken by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. However, if Erdoğan was to decide to totally end talks to find a permanent solution, the process to make it endorsed by Turkish Cyprus could prove problematic. While the Turkish Cypriot government of Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün would have no problem in endorsing such a course of action, it would be difficult to convince Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı.

The collapse of the talks in Crans-Montana under the auspices of the United Nations marked the end of a process seen as the most promising in generations to end the decades-old problem. The election of Nikos Anastasiades as president of Greek Cyprus had raised hopes for a solution as he was in favor of the Annan plan during the 2004 referendum. Despite the recent recovery, the condition of the Greek economy hit by the crisis was believed to offer another incentive for Greek Cypriots to be more willing for a compromised solution. Yet in the eyes of Ankara, even the most pro-solution leader has fallen short of delivering a deal based on compromise. That could be one of the reasons why Ankara tends to end the talks forever. After all, even if the most "pro-solution" leaders cannot deliver peace who else can.

On the other hand, the Turkish Foreign Ministry does not appear to be concerned about the possible repercussions of ending the peace process forever, called by the Turkish side as a "peaceful divorce." In fact, this is the best...