Cyprus dispute

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is ready to "play ball" on reaching a deal to reunify divided Cyprus because it would help resolve overarching regional issues including mending Turkey's relations with the European Union, a United Nations envoy said Dec. 8.

It is not yet certain when the two people of Cyprus will be asked to go to separate simultaneous referenda to vote on an agreement uniting the divided island in a bi-zonal and bi-communal federation. Indeed, as for now, it is not certain either if there ever will be an accord to crown the almost 50 years of intercommunal talks.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan may be more willing to back a deal to reunite the divided island of Cyprus following Turkey's failed army coup in July, the Cypriot foreign minister said on Tuesday.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his unswerving support for Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades's efforts in his quest for "a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem" at a meeting Monday with visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, but he also voiced concern at the incendiary rhetoric coming out of Turkey.

Since Mustafa Akıncı became president of Turkish Cyprus, and efforts to find a federal resolution to the Cyprus problem picked up momentum, each time the ship of talks hit the rocks, the Greek Cypriots managed to get something extra to refloat the vessel.

When it comes to dealing with major national issues, Greece should follow the example of Cyprus.

The Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders have agreed to immediately resume reunification talks, the United Nations stated on Dec. 2, with the five-party summit that Turkish Cyprus has long been waiting for set to start on Jan. 12, 2017. 

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a conversation over the telephone on Thursday, the Greek premier's office said in a statement.

A United Nations envoy will host a dinner for ethnically divided Cyprus' rival leaders in a bid to get stalled reunification talks going again.

A UN statement said Wednesday's dinner will be held inside the UN-controlled buffer zone. The zone separates the island's breakaway, Turkish Cypriot north and the internationally recognized, Greek Cypriot south.

A deal reunifying the ethnically divided Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus can be reached if both sides demonstrate more "flexibility and creativity," Britain's foreign secretary said Wednesday.

With complex peace talks between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots deadlocked, Boris Johnson said Britain stands ready to help.