Mustafa Akıncı

Expert-level talks in Mont Pelerin have showed the European Union cannot provide the kind of safety and constitutional status that Turkish Cypriots want because the bloc does not have such a mechanism, Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı has said. 

The senior adviser to the Turkish President Yigit Bulut said that “those that dream with game-boards to divide Cyprus from the Turkey must be ready to pay the price that Turkey payed with its hero’s blood”. He added that if EU, Britain and Germany want to take Cyprus they should be ready to pay the price.

The latest talks held between the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities in Geneva last week, under the auspices of the U.N., failed to produce desired outcomes. The two solution-oriented leaders, Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akıncı, and their teams tried to hammer out their differences on tricky issues such as security and guarantees. The meeting became multilateral on Jan.

Has there been any progress at the Geneva Cyprus talks? This is a very important question, the answer to which largely depends on which perspective one might wish to answer it from. Was it a success? Was it a failure?

Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı on Jan. 13 said the map submitted by Greek Cypriots to the UN was unacceptable and the Turkish Cypriots would not sign anything that would not include rotating presidency. 

The United Nations' new secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, has urged the parties in the Cyprus peace talks in Geneva to be patient to reach a "solid and sustainable" solution, as the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaders were accompanied by the foreign ministers of the three guarantor powers for the first time. 

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. 

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.

The two leaders of the eastern Mediterranean island Cyprus will resume United Nations-brokered peace talks in Geneva on Jan. 9 amid suggestions by the new U.N. chief the meeting represents a "historic opportunity" to end a decades-long conflict on the island even though the outcome is far from certain.