Cyprus

Turkey is displaying a largely hands-off attitude to the current Cyprus negotiations, according to Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Emine Çolak. Turkey's stance at the moment is devoid of any manipulation or interference, she says Ankara is allowing the two sides in the Cyprus dispute to pursue negotiations to unify the island in peace, according to the north's foreign minister.

A statement by Espen Barth Eide, the United Nations? Cyprus envoy, on the return of land has triggered unrest in the Turkish side of the divided island. 

?Regarding property, the leaders agreed that the individual?s right to property is respected,? Eide said earlier this week, in a statement issued on their behalf.

The business communities of the two sides of Cyprus have for the first time agreed to make their cooperation official by setting up the "Cyprus Business Forum," in a sign displaying optimism for a solution which will reunite the divided island in the near future.

Israel and Cyprus agreed on July 28 to expand their cooperation on energy issues, including the use of pipelines and electricity grids to link to European markets, as both countries develop natural gas fields off their coasts.

The European Commission published on Tuesday the application to register the names ‘Χαλλουμι’ (Halloumi)/‘Hellim’, in Greek and Turkish, as Protected Designations of Origin for a cheese produced in all the territory of the island of Cyprus.

Delia Velculescu has replaced Rishi Goyal as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) head representative to Greece. Rumors state that the replacement was due to his rigid and uncompromising behavior during negotiations as well as Velcusescu’s own experience in assessing Greece’s financial affairs.

Defying all skeptics, pulling down old taboos one after the other and with an unaccustomed absence of leaks and public mudslinging, the Cyprus talks appear to be gearing up to yet another twin referenda in March-April 2016.

Perhaps time has come to try to convince the two peoples of Cyprus that what the two leaders and negotiating teams have been discussing ?discreetly?

“Cyprus is a success story” was the exact term used by IMF spokesman Gerry Rice on Thursday to describe the island republic’s economic recovery, almost three years after its sovereign debt financial meltdown.

He added that a recent return to growth shows that the efforts undertaken to implement difficult reforms are beginning to pay-off, according to the Cyprus News Agency.

U.N. Security Council backing for the reunification of Cyprus is ?encouraging,? though no timetable is in the cards, the United Nations Special Adviser on Cyprus said July 22.