A settlement in Cyprus is almost impossible unless the two sides on the island manage to confess the crimes they committed and apologize to each other.
What are Turks trying to do in Cyprus? What might be the aim behind Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı’s decision to allow former residents of three Maronite villages to return to their former homes or heralding thousands of former residents of former touristic resort Varosha suburb of Famagusta that permission for their return might be in the cards?
It might be a surprise for some, but it is an unfortunate reality of this country. At the end of June there were 171 journalists in prison
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.
U.N. Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide will be presenting the Security Council an assessment of the past two years of the Cyprus peacemaking efforts, which ended last week in Crans-Montana with a crash landing. What will he say?
As long as the Greek Cypriots believe the island only belongs to them and the Turkish Cypriot people are a minority (that might be accorded a special status with some privileged rights), there can never be a bi-zonal or bi-communal federal settlement that the two sides have agreed to establish in principle back in 1977. We must confess it: The hope for a Cyprus federation died at Crans-Montana
At the beginning of the Crans-Montana summit on Cyprus, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres provided the process with a golden touch, asking the two sides to prepare packages answering all six chapters of a probable Cyprus compromise deal.
Metin Münir has been a liberal, a very libertarian writer. He was one of the former editors of the Hürriyet Daily News.
A resolution cannot be an easy task. Some 50 years of intercommunal talks underscore what an uphill road might be ahead for all those who flocked to the Swiss winter resort town of Crans-Montana for the Cyprus conference.
