Is Cyprus moving closer to reunification?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 25 November 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded the north after a military coup backed by Greece. Since then, the northern third has been run by a Turkish-Cypriot government. This self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognised as an independent state only by Turkey, while the rest of the world sees it as part of Cyprus. The southern two-thirds of the island is run by an internationally recognised government led by Greek-Cypriots. Whilst the physical division between the two is maintained by a United Nations peacekeeping force.
Negotiations aimed at reunification have been attempted over the years and stalled. One of the biggest barriers has been the differences over what a future settlement would look like, with Turkey pushing for a two-state solution and the recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The last formal attempt, supported by the United Nations, was in 2017 and took place in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. And even though informal talks have continued since then, there has been little progress. Key sticking points remain over issues including political equality and what it means between the two communities, issues of governance and security.
But in October of this year, a new Turkish Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhürman, was elected. He supports federation and is in favour of the resumption of reunification talks. Is Cyprus moving closer to reunification?
Contributors: Mete Hatay, Senior Research Consultant, PRIO Cyprus Centre, Oslo, Norway Lefteris Adilinis, Political Analyst, Cyprus Dr. Dorothée Schmid, Director, Middle East Programme, French Institute of International Relations, Paris, France Kathleen Doherty, Former United States Ambassador to Cyprus, USA
Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Maeve Schaffer Production Management Assistant: Liam Morrey Technical Producer: James Bradshaw Editor: Tom Bigwood
(Photo: A United Nations worker rides bike through the UN Buffer Zone. Credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.5 | Welcome to the inquiry. I'm Charmaine Cozier. |
| 0:08.8 | Each week, one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:15.6 | November 2025, the East Mediterranean Island of Cyprus is a divided one. For decades, a United Nations peacekeeping |
| 0:24.4 | force has been stationed between the Turkish Cypriot population in the north and the majority |
| 0:29.4 | of Greek Cypriots in the south and centre of the country. During that time, various negotiations |
| 0:35.7 | to restore unity have commenced and collapsed. Now, recent messaging from both sides is raising hopes of a settlement. So this week we're asking, is Cyprus moving closer to reunification? Part 1. The Cyprus problem. |
| 0:58.7 | When you look at the people without the signs around you, they look the same. |
| 1:03.9 | I mean, their body language is the same. |
| 1:06.4 | Even their accents are very similar, but the languages are different. |
| 1:11.5 | My name is Mette Hatai. |
| 1:13.3 | I'm a senior research consultant of Priyo Cyprus Center, |
| 1:17.2 | which is a Peace Research Institute of Oslo's Cyprus Center. |
| 1:21.9 | I'm a Turkish-Siprio. |
| 1:24.6 | Cyprus was part of the Ottoman Empire, |
| 1:26.9 | which operated from Turkey from the late 13th century until 1922. |
| 1:31.6 | It later came under British military occupation and British colonial rule. |
| 1:37.8 | What divided Cyprus was a long struggle of nationalism in the island, |
| 1:43.7 | which started during the British period as an |
| 1:46.5 | anti-colonial movement by Greek Cypriot nationalism and the resistance of Turkish Cypriot, |
| 1:52.4 | who were fearing that the British will go out and the Greek Cypriots will control the island. |
| 1:58.9 | So they reacted. One side wanted unification with Greece. |
... |
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