Rauf Denktaş

Authorities in the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus have issued an arrest warrant for a 16-year-old Greek-Cypriot boy for allegedly taking down a Turkish flag from a schoolyard in the occupied town of Lysi.

Whatever Turkey and Turkish Cypriots say, the international community perceives the Turkish Cypriot state as a subsidiary of Turkey rather than a full-fledged entity with some degree of sovereignty. This perception, also cultivated by the Greek Cypriot-hijacked Cyprus Republic, has also been one of the impediments to a resolution of the Cyprus problem.

The Church of Cyprus has a definitely far limited clout on politics compared to the Makarios period when the Archbishop was the "national leader" and the president of the state at the same time.

A very interesting article on the Cyprus dispute:

By George K. Papadopoulos, Ph.D.

No Cyprus, no certain facilities to protect our supply of oil. No oil, unemployment and hunger in Britain. It is as simple as that.
UK’s PM Anthony Eden after the failed Suez operation, 1956 1

Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı has apparently woken up from wild dreams that there could be a Cyprus resolution within few months or within a year or two "unless the methodology of the talks changed."

It wasn't Rauf Denktaş or any other Turkish Cypriot who first used it. It was the former Greek Cypriot leader Glafkos Clerides who said "a non-solution is also a solution in Cyprus." Still, the phrase became synonymous with Denktaş, together with his "Mr. No" title.

What is the number of settlers from mainland Turkey in the population of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)? Is the Turkish Cypriot community still the majority in their homeland, or has Northern Cyprus become flooded by settlers, making it a minority?

Today marks the fifth death anniversary of Rauf Denktaş, the founding president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Today may also be a new start for Turkish and Greek Cypriots. Thursday was a very important day for all Cypriots, irrespective of ethnical divides, and all those who are still bothered with the prospect of peace in the eastern Mediterranean island.

After so many rounds of talks and numerous declarations of great success or announcements of breakthroughs, the Cyprus talks train finally came to a very important station. Some claim this will be a make-or-break event, while some act with awareness of the history of the problem, which is now more than half a century old, and say Geneva is not the end of the road.

Although the discovery of huge hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean has created a significant opportunity for a solution to the Cyprus question, energy alone may not be enough for a solution.