Young Cypriots envision a future beyond the island's decades-long division

euronews (in English)

Young Cypriots envision a future beyond the island's decades-long division  Informal discussions were held this spring under the auspices of the UN, in hopes of reigniting reunification talks between the Greek-Cypriot-led Republic of Cyprus in the south, and the Turkish Cypriot breakaway entity in the north. More talks are due in July.  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/07/02/cyprus-a-never-ending-partition  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00My generation is dropping down the blame game.

00:04We have to think ourselves as part of the whole that we are, whether we like it or not.

00:11And come together for a reunited island.

00:16I am in the Tampon area that marks the separation of the Mediterranean island

00:21divided for 50 years.

00:23The UN wants to release the talk to reunify the Greek community

00:28from the Republic of Chypre, south, member of the European Union

00:32and the Chypriot-Turk-Turk-Nord that only knows Turkey.

00:36These projects already ancient reunification, which have never been able to.

00:51Chypre is a land of the Middle East,

00:54from the European Union, the Middle East and Africa.

00:58It is divided since 1974,

01:00when a coup d'Etat, supported by the Greece and Byzantine annexes l'île,

01:04led to a military military intervention in the north of Chypre.

01:07Environ 200.000 Chypriotes grecs and turks were displaced.

01:11The Republic of Chypre,

01:12recognized internationally,

01:14control from the south of Lille, where live the Chypriot-Turk.

01:17She has no control over the Republic of Chypre-Nord,

01:21regrouping the Chypriot-Turk and many immigrants of Turkey.

01:25This entity is recognized only by the Turkey,

01:28which maintains its army.

01:30Chypre is a member of the European Union,

01:33but the community law does not apply in the north.

01:36For Europe, Chypre is a key for the regional stability

01:39and the control of the immigration.

01:41The access to the reserves of the offshore of the country,

01:43blocked by the Turkey,

01:45is also an issue for the European energy security.

01:48The Union supports a federations bi-community

01:51composed of two zones,

01:53recognized by the UN,

01:54but the negotiations on the reunification of Chypre

01:57are at the point of death since 2017.

02:04The discussions are in the course

02:05to release, once again,

02:07but to talk about a possible reunification of Chypre

02:10divided for 50 years.

02:12The issue is still uncertain,

02:15but I wanted to ask the young Chypriot-Turk

02:18and Greek communities

02:20to understand how they live this division

02:23and, above all,

02:24how they envision their future.

02:29Hi, I'm Berk.

02:30We are here in Elefteria Square, in Nicosia.

02:33I wanted to be here today

02:35because Elefteria, in Greek,

02:38is good looking Turkish,

02:40means freedom.

02:43Hi everyone, I'm Christiana

02:45and we are now in one of my favorite places

02:47in the north of Nicosia.

02:49This place symbolizes for me community

02:51and coexistence

02:52as it is the first social housing project

02:54ever completed in Cyprus.

02:59Berk, 28 ans,

03:00is Chypriote-Turk.

03:01Kristiana, 22 ans,

03:02is Chypriote-Grec.

03:04They don't have to cease

03:05to finish the checkpoints

03:06that mark the division of Chypre.

03:08We are here now in Littra Street,

03:11the main high street of Southern Nicosia.

03:14I like to come here because it's multicultural,

03:18it's nice and makes me feel like,

03:20as a person lives on the northern part of the divide,

03:23that I live in a normal city.

03:25I cross to the north almost every day.

03:28With my friends, we try to have a common life

03:30as much as we can.

03:32I try to ignore the checkpoints,

03:34we usually do a coffee in the north in the morning

03:37and drink in the south in the evening

03:39and that's how it usually goes.

03:41Kristiana et Berk se connaissent bien.

03:45Leur amitié est née d'un combat commun

03:47pour une réunification de l'île.

03:50Ils nous parlent de leur engagement

03:52dans ce café du nord de Nicosia,

03:54connu pour ses activités bicommunautaires.

03:59I grew up in the occupied areas of the Republic of Cyprus

04:04and then I first had an experience

04:07what it means to be a European citizen

04:14but technically do not live in the EU

04:17where EU acquis is on force.

04:19Your rights are suspended, there's corruption

04:22and then of course all the other illegalities

04:26that come with this place

04:28being a legal, internationally black hole.

04:32This geography does not ratify any international

04:36humanitarian law, even Interpol cannot have access to it.

04:40This pushes the mafia, this pushes human trafficking,

04:44this pushes sex trafficking.

04:47I believe the only way out for us

04:49is the agreed European framework

04:51which is a bi-zonal, bicommunal federation

04:54as Cyprus being fully reunified in the European Union

04:59where the EU acquis is applied all across the island.

05:02For me, the end goal is to have a completely new narrative.

05:08You have a narrative shaping the identity of a Greek Cypriot

05:12and a Turkish Cypriot in our education, in our everyday life

05:15and you have this whole construction of the other person

05:19that you never really get to meet.

05:21What we need are more common spaces, more exposure

05:25to whatever we deem as the other

05:28so that it is not a threat anymore.

05:31This is not something that is being encouraged

05:34to happen on a larger scale.

05:37If we carry on the way we do now

05:40with the idea of the federation taking such a big part

05:43on political discourse but no practical action

05:47towards that, then nothing will happen.

05:50We have to think ourselves as part of the whole that we are

05:55whether we like it or not.

05:57Otherwise, we are not going any further.

05:59The views of the negotiations for a reunification of the EU

06:04are more than uncertain in the eyes of this politologist,

06:07professor at the University of Nicosia

06:09and director of Friedrich Hebert Foundation at the University of Nicosia

06:11and director of Friedrich Hebert Foundation at the University of Nicosia.

06:16It doesn't look promising at all.

06:19We haven't had talks in seven years

06:21and the Turkish Cypriot and Turkish position has shifted.

06:24They insist on the recognition of equal sovereignty

06:26or even the recognition of the separatist entity

06:29the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

06:31which is not internationally recognized as a prerequisite for talks.

06:35It's a non-starter.

06:36The Greek Cypriot side and the international community

06:38will never accept this as a prerequisite.

06:41Can the European Union have any say in this

06:44and what's at stake for Europe?

06:47Well, Europe has a say in it but a very minor one.

06:50Given that the Greek Cypriot-dominated Republic of Cyprus

06:53has joined the European Union,

06:55the European Union is no longer perceived as a neutral arbiter in the conflict.

07:00So Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots reject an active role of the European Union

07:04exceeding giving some framework ideas what is acceptable or not.

07:09In theory its stake is that there's a part of European territory legally speaking

07:13that's occupied by Turkey.

07:15There's an unresolved dispute that permanently pitches the European Union against Turkey

07:19with many powerful EU member states having no interest in a confrontation with Turkey

07:24while a Greek Cypriot policy is to utilize the EU membership against Turkey

07:28to get concessions in the Cyprus question.

07:30So the Cyprus problem has become a European problem.

07:33At the same time this is a stable conflict

07:35so it's very much conflict management rather than conflict resolution

07:39and I fear this is there for years to come.

07:41So this island is slowly drifting by maintaining the status quo into permanent partition.

07:47I fear this is slowly drifting by saying that it indicates that there is aigosic

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