Annan Plan for Cyprus

"Turkey holds key at last-ditch Cyprus talks," was the headline of an analysis published in the EUObserver a few days before the intercommunal talks started in Geneva on Jan. 9.

From this headline you would assume that the Geneva talks are not negotiations or a give-and-take exercise between the two communities on the divided island, but it was an effort aimed at convincing Turkey.

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker discussed the progress of talks on the Cypriot matter in Geneva during a phone contact, Wednesday.

As a new round of negotiations on the resolution of the Cyprus dispute is about to start in Geneva, there are growing voices inside the EU that point out the dangerous possibility Turkey will be able to influence EU policies through the Turkish-Cypriot constituent state after a possible solution.

This is a crucial week for the Cyprus issue. Both the Turkish and Greek sides seem to think that the talks in Geneva are "a last window of opportunity for a solution," but each party is still putting forward terms that the other side obviously cannot accept. Nevertheless, for some time now there has been strong optimism that this "last chance" will bring a solution.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will visit New York on Jan. 5 to meet with Antonio Guterres, who assumed his duties as the United Nations Secretary General on Jan. 1.

Çavuşoğlu's visit to the U.N. comes ahead of the upcoming Cyprus talks in Geneva.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke on Thursday over the telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to express his condolences over the fatal Black Sea plane crash and the assassination earlier this month of Moscow's ambassador to Ankara.

Nicosia insisted on Tuesday that the Republic of Cyprus will not be dissolved to make way for a federation with constituent Greek and Turkish states, and that the multilateral summit in Geneva, slated for January 12, that will seek to seal a reunification deal must include the participation of the permanent members of the UN Security Council to ensure its successful outcome.

Probably excluding the academic-turned Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and a minority of like-minded other politicians from all ideologies, particularly conservatives, Greece appears to have washed its hands of Cyprus. How could Greece continue playing an important role after the July 15, 1974, coup it engineered that opened the doors of the island to Turkey's intervention?

The Greek minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Kotzias provided an in-depth analysis of the latest developments so far regarding the ongoing negotiations about the Cyprus dispute to the representatives of all the political parties.

The Council convened in the light of the upcoming meeting of the participating sides in Geneva on January the 12th.
 

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.