Cyprus peace process

Turkey has made a diplomatic jumpstart to 2016.

Many people were puzzled when Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu and Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavu?o?lu separately met in Istanbul with Andreas Kyprianou, the secretary-general of the Greek Cypriot Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL). Particularly, the very fact that the meeting came immediately after a landmark trilateral meeting of the two Cypriot leaders with the U.N.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has commended the two heads of the island of Cyprus for their "efforts and leadership" in peace talks on the divided island, adding that significant progress had been made in the negotiations. 

Who managed to convince the Greek Cypriot leadership to drop its intransigence and agree to meet with the Turkish Cypriot leader in the presence of the U.N. secretary-general? Was it the Americans, or the British, or combined brinkmanship?

The two leaders of divided Cyprus said on Jan. 21 that a deal was possible this year to end decades of conflict over the island, calling on the international community to support peace efforts during their joint address to business leaders in Davos.

Looking through the recent punditry on Cyprus, one inevitably feels a sense of déjà vu, as there appears to be nothing new regarding the age-old problem of the Eastern Mediterranean. So far, we have witnessed countless the best and the last hopes/chances before the inescapable train crash in the long, circuitous and problematic negotiation processes that predictably failed at the end.

Turkish could become an official language of the European Union thanks to the efforts of the Greek Cypriot leader, according to a spokesman for the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. 

"The two communal leaders of Cyprus," I would say, but Greek Cypriots would bombard me with protest letters that Nikos Anastasiades was the "president" of the U.N. and EU-member Cyprus, not a communal leader with his buddy Mustafa Ak?nc?. Anyhow, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be meeting with the two on Jan.

The responsibility for re-energizing Turkey's accession process will belong to the European Union even in the event that the ongoing Cyprus talks fail to produce a breakthrough, Turkey's EU minister has said, asking the bloc to keep its promises toward Ankara.

Hurrah... Once again Turkey extended its generous helping hand and salvaged Turkish Cypriots from an economic collapse. Deputy Prime Minister Tu?rul Türke? - a Turkish Cypriot from his late father Alparslan Türke?