Cyprus

United Nations human rights expert Karima Bennoune on Thursday slammed the "unjustified" restriction facing religious services in ethnically-split Cyprus.

Turkish Cypriot authorities have restricted the number of visits allowed to Greek Orthodox churches in the north of the island, saying they could not cope with the frequency and demand of such services.

The new prime minister of the Turkish Cypriot community, Hüseyin Özgürgün, said May 4 that his government supported the United Nations-brokered peace talks with the Greek Cypriot community to find a peaceful solution to the over-forty-year conflict. 

Greek Cypriots will no longer require visas to visit Turkey under an EU-Turkey agreement on visa liberalization but this does not amount to Turkish recognition of Cyprus, a Turkish official has said. 

The Turkish cabinet has approved waiving visas for EU citizens once Europe relaxes its own visa requirements for Turks, according to a decision published in Turkey's Official Gazette. 

If 2016 is to be the year of a solution, the ongoing United Nations-brokered Cyprus peace talks need to be faster and more productive, the President of Turkish Cyprus Mustafa Ak?nc? said April 25.

The problem in Cyprus is not finding a resolution to the over 50-year-old power sharing quagmire between the two peoples of the island but to pretend as if a solution is wanted by a certain date. Is this an overstatement? Probably.

Many in Nicosia, Athens, Brussels and Washington are confident - and some concerned - that the Cyprus issue may be resolved by the end of the year. In the US, especially, top officials are eager for this to happen by the end of 2016, as every US government likes to wrap up as many international affairs as possible before their term ends so as to boost its legacy.

Bulgarian and Cyprus on Friday signed a memorandum that will help them fight against the trafficking in artifacts and efforts to retrieve stolen items, the Culture Ministry has said.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Bulgarian Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov and Cyprus Transport Minister Marios Demetriades as the former was visiting the island.

Bailed-out Greek Cyprus recorded a 40-percent hike in tourist arrivals in March, setting the stage for a record year for the holiday island and indicating an economic revival, official data showed on April 18.

Tourist arrivals already hit a 14-year high in 2015 reaching 2.65 million, on the back of a cheaper euro. 

The European Parliament has advised making Turkish an official language of the European Union, building on the initiative by Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, according to the EP's 2015 progress report on Turkey. 

When he triggered the current Cyprus problem in February 1962 by demanding the so-called 13-point amendment to the Cyprus Constitution, Archbishop Makarios was stressing something fundamental. He was stressing that those changes must be undertaken to ensure functional governance on the island.