Greek, Turkish Leaders Meet to Discuss a United Cyprus

On January 6, 2016, Greeks in Cyprus celebrated Epiphany, the coming of the wise men to Jesus, in the Northern Cypriot city of Famagusta. This situation may not seem unusual, but it was the first time in 42 years that Greek Christians had celebrated Epiphany in their home city. The Northern section of Cyprus, styled the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, has been separated from the Southern part since the Turkish invasion in 1974. The status quo in the years since has created two Cypruses that mutually identify each other by their ‘home’ countries, essentially creating a Greek Cyprus and a Turkish one. In 2004, an attempted deal at reunification, orchestrated by then-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, was supported by 65% of Turkish Cypriots. The reunification plan was only approved by 24% of Greek Cypriots, and negotiations for the unity of the island broke down shortly afterwards.

However, the Turkish Cypriot elections last year may have hailed a new step toward the reunification of the island. Mustafa Akinci, of the center-left Communal Democracy Party, won the Northern Cypriot Presidential elections with 60% in April 2015.

Within days of taking office, Akinci met with Greek Cypriot leaders and agreed to push forward on the reunification process. Three days later, on May 15, Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders officially restarted negotiations.

“It is with satisfaction that I can inform this august body that during this new negotiating round, progress has been achieved in a number of issues on almost all Chapters of the Cyprus problem,”  Greek Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades announced in his address to the UN general assembly in September of last year.

In January, both presidents met in the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“The leaders and I had a very comprehensive discussion on the current state-of-play in the Cyprus talks,” Ban Ki Moon said after the meeting, adding that he was pleased with the political will shown by both sides in pursuit of a deal.

This hope for future unity was contributed to by a coming together of the Greek Cypriot DISY (Democratic Rally party) and the Turkish Cypriot TDP (Communal Democracy Party) at a common cultural festival on Monday. The mayors of both the Greek and Turkish sections of Nicosia, the UN-demilitarized former capital of Cyprus, were present at the event.

Cemal Ozyigit, president of the TDP, stated, “We as Cypriots will be able to reunite our common homeland together.”

Earlier this year, Cypriot MEP and former DISY member Eleni Theocharous claimed that she was prepared to set herself “on fire at [Athens’] Syntagma Square [if that] is what it takes to push for a union of Cyprus and Greece.” Although there will be limited opposition to reunification from various nationalist groups, there appears to be strong support from passionate party members such as Theocharous.

Bigger players have also yet to openly show approval or disapproval for such a deal. The stability of Turkey in the face of ISIS and the renewed violence in the country’s mainland may make the nation reconsider letting go of control of such a strategic point the Mediterranean without any immediate gain of political capital. Likewise, Greece may view a united Cyprus negatively. Allowing a significant population of Turks into the European Union could pave the way for admittance of Turkey into the Union in the future. Finally, the British, who still hold two military bases on the North and South of the island, may worry for the future of their strategic holdings in the Mediterranean.