Nicos Christodoulides

Government Spokesman Nicos Christodoulides says the minutes of Crans-Montana meetings may have to be made public unless the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide changes his tune on the collapse of the talks.

Talks aimed at reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus are at risk of collapse because of a possible "international crisis," a United Nations envoy said Thursday, amid tensions over oil and gas exploration off the east Mediterranean island.

United Nations special envoy for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide was in Ankara on Feb. 7 to hold talks with Turkish officials over the ongoing peace talks to bring a lasting solution to the eastern Mediterranean island. 

Eide first held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Feb. 7. He was later scheduled to meet Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım. 

The Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides were set to present respective maps for a prospective federal Cyprus at peace talks in Geneva on Jan. 11 ahead of a conference that will also include the three guarantor powers as part of the bid to end the 40-year-old conflict. 

Nicosia has reacted to controversial remarks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who on Tuesday slammed Cyprus for using its flag as representative of the whole island.

Cyprus's government spokesman says talks at a Swiss resort to reunify the ethnically split island broke down because the Turkish Cypriot side didn't stick to agreed-upon rules on how negotiations would proceed.

Crucial talks being held at a Swiss resort aiming to reunify ethnically divided Cyprus have hit an impasse, officials said late on Monday, in a serious setback that casts doubt over whether 18 months of negotiations can successfully resolve the decades-old dispute.

Five days of U.N.-sponsored talks on ending the decades-old division of Cyprus have adjourned without a breakthrough but negotiators vowed Nov. 12 to press on for a deal this year.

Authorities arrested the hijacker of an Egyptian airliner that was diverted to Greek Cyprus on March 29, after the plane's passengers and crew were able to escape unharmed.
 

Greek Cyprus has launched a third licensing round for offshore oil and gas drilling off the Mediterranean island's southern coast.

"The decision to launch this licensing round was based on the huge interest by international companies to carry out explorations offshore Cyprus despite the energy industry's not so favorable conditions," said government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides.