The Cyprus problem will never be solved without a paradigm shift away from leaders and referenda, and towards “bottom up” re-unification and tangible, small-scale progress.
Flickr/United Nations Development Program in Europe and CIS. Some rights reserved.“The newly elected leftist leader Mustafa Akıncı brought about more hope for a solution to the Cyprus problem than ever”.
In biggest push in over a decade, Nicos Anastasiades, president of Greek southern sector, to meet Mustafa Akinci, new leader of Turkish-occupied north
It has taken more than 40 years, an army of mediators and several near-misses, but there is genuine hope that when the leaders of ethnically divided Cyprus resume peace talks on Friday, the west’s longest-running diplomatic dispute can finally be resolved.
They have little faith in their leaders, so people from the Turkish and Greek sides of the island are working to reunite their communities themselves
On the beach at Famagusta, there’s a sweeter, citrus scent mixed in with the sea breeze.
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A complex political triangulation links the Turkish president with the Syrian imbroglio and the Kurdish question, but his political target is receding.
These two refugees from Kobane, in a camp in Suruç in southern Turkey, are among what the authorities estimate are 280,000 Syrian Kurds who have sought sanctuary across the border. Demotix / Konstantinos Tsakalidis. All rights reserved.
Until a year ago, it seemed as if some sort of reconciliation between the Turkish state and its Kurds would be feasible. With the launch of the ‘Kurdish opening’ in 2009, the leadership in Ankara was re-engaging the Kurdish population after decades of estrangement. The announcement of the ‘peace dialogue’ between the government and Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan People’s Party (PKK), as well as the ‘reform package’ introduced by the then prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, confirmed in the eyes of many the executive’s genuine interest in reconnecting with its Kurdish community.
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