After decades of United Nations resolutions and mediation on Cyprus, why is the island still divided?
Kakouris: We’ve been unable to move forward on a solution to the Cyprus problem because, quite frankly, Turkey hasn’t accepted the solution of a bizonal, bicommunal federation that is the framework of countless United Nations resolutions. [Cypriot] President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat recently reiterated their support for that framework, with a single citizenship and political equality for everyone. Successive Turkish governments, however, have pushed instead for a solution based on a weak confederation of two distinct states. NJ: What exactly is meant by a “bizonal” and “bicommunal” republic? Kakouris: Within Cyprus you would have two areas, one of Greek Cypriot constituents, and the other of Turkish Cypriot constituents, but both parts of a federal republic. So there would be only one state and a single citizenship. By contrast, today 43,000 Turkish troops occupy 37 percent of the sovereign territory of a member of the European Union. In that occ
