Mustafa Ak

Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Ak?nc? has expressed his solidarity with the arrested editor-in-chief of Turkish daily Cumhuriyet and its Ankara bureau chief.

"Democracy, human rights, freedom of thought and expression and the right to access information are musts in being human," the president said on his Facebook page on Nov. 29. 

Turkey's foreign minister said ongoing talks aimed at findign a solution to Cyprus issue are the "last chance" to reach a peace accord.

Mevlüt Cavu?o?lu said the United Nations, which is brokering negotiations, "also thinks this is the last chance" and that the world body wants the island's leaders to take advantage of it.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu will visit northern Cyprus on Nov. 26 in his first abroad trip since resuming his position after a three-month break, the ministry said in a written statement on Nov. 25. 

The visit comes on the eve of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's scheduled trip to the island in a bid to show Washington's support for the ongoing peace talks.  

The special adviser of the U.N. Secretary-General (SASG) on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, said after a meeting with Turkish Cypriot Leader Mustafa Ak?nc? on Nov. 24 that progress has been reached on a number of issues in recent peace talks. Eide was speaking a day before the two leaders from both sides of divided Cyprus were scheduled to meet in Nicosia as part of talks on Nov. 25. 

Nicos Katsourides, a senior member of the Greek Cypriot Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL), let the cat out of the bag. "What's being achieved at the [intercommunal] talks is nothing further than a reaffirmation of the past convergences; in reality the talks have landed in a deadlock," the veteran politician said during an interview with the Alithia.

Now is the right time for Greek and Turkish Cypriots to do a deal to reunify their partitioned island, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Nov. 19 after meeting with the heads of the two communities. 

Turkish Cypriots were attacked late Nov. 16 by right-wing Greek nationalists of the National Popular Front (ELAM), local security forces said.

Turkish Cyprus has marked the 32nd anniversary of its foundation yesterday with celebrations in the country. 

Turkey has agreed to allow access to graves in military zones in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in a major breakthrough in a decades-old search for persons missing in past conflicts, a team working under U.N. auspices said on Nov. 5.

Turkey has officially begun to supply fresh water to Turkish Cyprus via a much awaited pipeline project, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an saying the water may be shared with the Greek side of the divided island. 

"If the south [Greek Cyprus] says 'We also want to utilize this water,' we will carry them water, calling it 'peace water,'" said Erdo?an in Cyprus.