Mustafa Akıncı

July is a not an official but a "natural end-date" for a solution to be found in the more than 40-year-long Cyprus conflict, Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı has stated. 

With the question "When will they collapse this time?" occupying minds, the Cyprus negotiations left behind yet another crisis and resumed on April 11. In Turkey, meanwhile, only five days were left before a crucial vote that may be of existential importance for the future of the country.

The two Cypriot leaders on April 11 rebooted stalled U.N.-backed reunification talks for the island and agreed to pick up lost momentum after a two-month suspension.

Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı has warned Greek Cyprus ahead of a resumption of peace talks that if the natural resources drilling off the island starts before an agreement on the island then there will be new tensions, which he does not favor.

Cyprus talks will resume on April 11 between the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot leaders, following consultations with both sides, the UN’s Special Adviser of on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, announced on Tuesday.

The two Cypriot leaders on April 2 failed to set a date to restart stalled peace talks on reunifying the island after meeting for dinner in the U.N.-controlled buffer zone, the United Nations said.

Greek Cypriot politicians staged a very heated verbal exchange in the House of Representatives over reports that ruling Democratic Rally Party (DISI) Chairman Averof Neophytou visited the presidential office in northern Cyprus to discuss ways of overcoming the deadlock in the Cyprus talks during a BBQ with President Mustafa Akıncı.

The leaders of Cyprus's estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities will meet over dinner next Sunday in a first encounter of the two since peace talks were abruptly interrupted in February, the United Nations said on Monday.

On the last day of March the Greek Cypriot House of Representatives will vote on a draft sponsored by the ruling Democratic Rally Party (DISI) to authorize the Education Ministry to decide on the days to be marked in secondary schools. The draft, which cleared the education committee last week, aims at leaving behind a controversy over a recent law that ordered the commemoration of a 1950 plebi

The Special Adviser of the U.N. Secretary-General on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, said March 4 that he believed the two leaders of the divided island are committed to making the unification process work. 

His remarks came after a three-hour meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı in Nicosia, one day after meeting with Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades on March 3.