CYPRUS TALKS: WHAT NEXT?
Based on his experience as the British government’s Cyprus coordinator, Lord David Hannay once said: “No one has ever lost money betting against a Cyprus settlement.”
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ANKARA LINKS CYPRUS TALKS TO CUSTOMS UNION MODERNIZATION
Turkey wants the modernization of its Customs Union with the European Union — off the agenda for years — to be part of the equation as diplomatic traffic on the Cyprus issue accelerates, more than three European diplomats confirmed to Turkey in Depth.
NO MOMENTUM IN SIGHT FOR CYPRUS TALKS AS LEADERS MEET
Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders met under the facilitation of United Nations Secretary-General’s personal envoy, María Angela Holguín Cuéllar, on Dec. 11. Tufan Erhürman and Nikos Christodoulides reportedly agreed to expedite a series of confidence-building measures. Talks to resolve the decadeslong Cyprus issue are unlikely to gain traction before mid-2026, as both the north and south prepare for critical elections.
CYPRUS TALKS: WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU EXPECT NOTHING
NICOSIA—The New York dinner hosted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres for Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Ersin Tatar managed to bring the two leaders together around a table, but reunification still seems a very distant prospect. “There wasn’t much on the menu,” quipped Tatar, speaking to Turkish journalists, including Turkey in Depth, in Nicosia after his return to the island. “Guterres himself said the main advantage of the meal at the UN headquarters was the view. I told him the view from the Turkish House [the headquarters of multiple Turkish diplomatic missions in the Big Apple] was far better.”