Cyprus peace process

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. 

Leaders of ethnically divided Cyprus were to discuss territorial trade-offs on Wednesday, a crucial juncture in peace talks aiming for a long-elusive reunification deal that may be put to a referendum this year.

The ongoing negotiations in Geneva on the Cyprus dispute is about to enter a new stage. According to the President of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiades, it has been agreed that the two negotiating sides will exchange their ideas on maps today.

The maps tabled showed the legal Cypriot government offering the other side 28.2%, while the Turkish-Cypriot entity are demanding 1% more.

Speaking on the third day of reunification talks at United Nations offices in Geneva, Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades said he expected that the two sides would exchange maps detailing the respective zones' boundaries on Wednesday.

"I believe so... That's the agreement," the Cypriot President told the media as he arrived for the talks.

Will it be possible for the Turkish Cypriot president to produce a map showing his territorial offers for a settlement on Cyprus while not even an inch of progress has been achieved on replacing the "red" section regarding power sharing with a "black" one? If he does walk such a road, will it be possible for him to return to northern Cyprus still claiming that compromises were made but that the

With the International peace talks on the Cypriot problem under way in Geneva, Switzerland, the participation of the Greek PM Alexis Tsipras still remains unclear. Currently the parties attending the meerting include the President of the Cypriot Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, the leader of the Turkish-Cypriot community, Mustafa Akinci and the UN’s special adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide.

Turkey will seek the right of free movement for Turkish people and Turkish goods in Turkish Cyprus after a prospective reunification deal that would result in the entire island joining the European Union amid ongoing talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriots in Geneva. 

Some are tired of hearing it, while some don't even want to hear it. Yet, in terms of the leadership on the divided island of Cyprus, there is the right alignment of stars. Both Turkish leader Mustafa Akıncı and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades genuinely want to find a lasting solution and have succeeded in narrowing the gap on the most sensitive issues.

As the leaders of divided Cyprus settled down for a week of intense talks on Jan. 9, seeking to reach the outline of a peace deal to end decades of separation, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has vowed that Ankara would never withdraw from its guarantor position on the island.

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.