James Ker-Lindsay

When Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), was arrested in February 1999, it marked a turning point in relations between Greece and Turkey. As the country's most wanted man, his arrest was greeted with jubilation throughout most of Turkey. However, it also led to a public outcry when it emerged that he had been captured leaving the Greek Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. This was seen as definitive proof that the Greek Government had been aiding and abetting the PKK. In the days and weeks that followed the arrest, relations between the Aegean neighbours sank to their lowest level since the summer of 1974, when Athens and Ankara had come to the brink of war over Cyprus. However, by the end of the year, the picture could not have been more different. An improbable series of events that included a regional conflict, two major disasters and the death of a senior Greek politician had led to a complete transformation in the relations between the two countries. The crowning moment of this change came in December when Greece dropped its long-standing opposition to Turkish candidacy for EU membership. How did this remarkable change come about? Who should take the credit? And what did it mean for diplomatic relations in the Eastern Mediterranean? This is the story of how two countries started down a path to peace after decades of tension and hostility and how, over the course of one monumental year, relations between Greece and Turkey went from the brink of conflict to an unprecedented affirmation of friendship and solidarity.

A Year of Rapprochement Between Greece and Turkey

Crisis and Conciliation

A concise guide to one of the most confounding and seemingly irresolvable international conflicts for almost half a century.

What Everyone Needs to Know

The Cyprus Problem

Over the past fifty years the Cyprus Problem has come to be regarded as the archetype of an intractable ethnic conflict. Since 1964, the United Nations has been at the forefront of efforts to find a political solution to the dispute between the island's Greek and Turkish communities. And yet, despite the active involvement of six Secretaries-General (U Thant, Kurt Waldheim, Javier Perez de Cuellar, Boutros Boutros Ghali, Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-Moon), every attempt to reach a mutually acceptable solution has failed. Here, James Ker-Lindsay draws together new and original perspectives from the leading experts on Cyprus, including academics, policy-makers, politicians and activists. All have addressed one deceptively simple question: 'Can Cyprus be solved?' Resolving Cyprus presents a comprehensive overview of the Cyprus Problem from a variety of approaches and offers new and innovative ideas as to how to tackle one of the longest running ethnic conflicts on the world stage. This represents an essential contribution to the body of work on Cyprus, and will be required reading for all those following the debates surrounding the Cyprus problem.

New Approaches to Conflict Resolution

Resolving Cyprus

Hubert Faustmann

For nearly fifty years, Cyprus has attracted considerable international attention. However, while numerous volumes have been written on the causes and consequences of the conflict between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities and the many efforts to reunite the island, very little work has been done on the domestic politics and society in the Republic of Cyprus. This volume addresses this major gap in the literature by providing the first comprehensive examination of the institutions of governance and the political environment in Cyprus. As well as focusing on issues such as the presidency, parliament, the legal system, local government and civil society, it also analyses and explains the historical development of politics in Cyprus and the ways in which the conflict between the two communities, the division of the island and, more recently, European Union accession have all affected the conduct of politics and system of government.

The Government and Politics of Cyprus

For nearly 60 years, the tiny Mediterranean nation of Cyprus has taken a disproportionate share of the international spotlight. In The Cyprus Problem, James Ker-Lindsay--recently appointed as expert advisor to the UN Secretary-General's Special Advisor on Cyprus--offers an incisive, even-handed account of the conflict. Ker-Lindsay covers all aspects of the Cyprus problem, placing it in historical context, addressing the situation as it now stands, and looking toward its possible resolution.

James Ker-Lindsay

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