Foreign relations of Cyprus

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Feb. 5 warned against deepening distrust between Turkey and the European Union and said ties are passing through a very critical period.

The minister called on the EU to open a new page in accession talks which has been stalled for the past few years.

A resolution renewing the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus for an additional six months is under the "silence procedure" and it is expected to be adopted on Thursday if no member breaks the silence.

Turkey is ready to revive all dialogue channels with Greece including the exploratory talks, the Foreign Ministry said on Jan. 24.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused the European Union of being biased against his country on the Cyprus issue and Ankara's relations with Athens and Nicosia, saying the union "should actually play a balanced and objective role." 

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias criticized Turkey's activities in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean on Monday, saying it is leading Ankara to international isolation.

"We discussed Turkey's illegal actions, which are not limited to Cyprus' exclusive economic zone," he told journalists at a joint press conference with visiting Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias criticized Turkey's activities in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean on Monday, saying it is leading Ankara to international isolation.

"We discussed Turkey's illegal actions, which are not limited to Cyprus' exclusive economic zone," he told journalists at a joint press conference with visiting Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo postponed a planned trip to Central Asia and Cyprus to deal with the ongoing developments out of Baghdad, the State Department announced on Jan. 1.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is planning a visit to Cyprus in early January as he returns from a trip to Asia, according to Turkish Cypriot media.

Pompeo will meet with Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı.

The lingering efforts to find a resolution to the decades-long Cyprus issue should be "result-oriented" and "time-limited," the prime minister of the Turkish side of the divided island has said, as both sides prepare for a round of trilateral talks.

Solving the Cyprus issue and reuniting the island inside the European Union would be a "game changer" for the country, the Union and the region, the EU's High Representative Federica Mogherini said in the European Parliament plenary on Wednesday, during a debate on Turkey's drilling activities around the island.