Main Issues
- Security. How fast and/or whether Turkish troops leave, whether or not the three guarantor powers (Turkey, UK, Greece) continue to have the right of military intervention. This is the issue that divides Greek and Turkish Cypriots the most, according to opinion polls.
- Territory. How much of the land area currently under Turkish Cypriot de facto control will fall under the Greek Cypriot constituent state in the post-settlement “bizonal bicommunal federation”.
- Property. Around 75% of private property in northern Cyprus is owned by Greek Cypriots and much of the housing is lived in by Turkish Cypriots, some of whom were also displaced. Who decides whether property is reinstated, on what basis, who pays for those displaced by reinstatement and for those compensated, and whether or not large-scale reinstatement would conflict with the goal of bizonality is one of the most complex issues in the talks.
- Governance. How much power is vested in the federal government and how much in the two constituent states, how the goal of “political equality” is expressed in terms of representation in federal institutions, which competences should lie at the federal level and which should be at the constituent state level. Last, but not least, who gets to be president and how this president is elected.
- Citizenship rights of Turks. After settlement policies in the 1970-80s and economic migration thereafter, how many people of Turkish origin (“settlers”) there actually are and who will have the right to permanent residence and/or the right to a united Cyprus citizenship.
- Economy and EU affairs. How fast the EU acquis (EU laws) will apply in the Turkish Cypriot constituent state, including the free movement of capital (property purchases), goods and services, labour and persons; formulae for the allocation of government revenues; how a settlement will be accommodated into EU law, in particular whether the current treaties suffice.
Source: Sapienta Country Analysis Cyprus. Reproduced with permission of Sapienta Economics Ltd.
