Greek Cypriot administration

Turkey on Aug. 9 criticized "baseless" allegations from the Greek Foreign Ministry regarding commemoration events in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Aug. 8, marking the 53rd anniversary of the Erenköy Resistance. 

Speculation over the opening of the fenced-off town of Varosha may lead to that eventuality, but it will take a decade before the first displaced inhabitant gets to return.

This is what a political analyst told the Cyprus Weekly following the furore sparked by signals from Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side that they are considering opening the once cosmopolitan “ghost town”.

What are Turks trying to do in Cyprus? What might be the aim behind Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı's decision to allow former residents of three Maronite villages to return to their former homes or heralding thousands of former residents of former touristic resort Varosha suburb of Famagusta that permission for their return might be in the cards?

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.

Turkey warned the Greek Cypriot administration over its hydrocarbon-related activities in the Eastern Mediterranean late on July 13. 

A note handed by a passenger to a flight attendant ahead of a flight to Nicosia from Istanbul sparked a bomb scare on May 24, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Both sides of the island of Cyprus now have "the best chance" for a unification agreement, even though the dispute over gas exploration and an upcoming election on the Greek side have hampered the negotiations, UN special envoy Espen Barth Eide said.  "These are very crucial times for Cyprus itself, and also all the interested countries like Turkey and Greece," Eide told an interview at the UN

In a letter to the United Nations, Turkey’s UN Permanent Representative threatens Cyprus but also oil giants ENI and TOTAL over offshore hydrocarbon exploration in Block 6 in Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone. Ankara not only disputes the possibility of Cyprus to carry out exploration or give licenses but also declares in the most formal way that Block 6 belongs to Turkish continental shelf.

Turkey started its seismic energy exploration in eastern Mediterranean on April 21 in line with the government's "National Energy and Mining Policy," state-run Anadolu Agency has reported. 

July is a not an official but a "natural end-date" for a solution to be found in the more than 40-year-long Cyprus conflict, Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı has stated.