the back burner

Well, Cyprus is considered, along with Palestine and places like Darfur, to be one of the world's most significant hotspots. It's one of the three places whose peace process Kofi Annan oversees personally. And it'd been one of the longest-running conflicts in the world in general and Europe in particular. No one but Turkey recognizes Northern Cyprus, and Turkey doesn't recognize the Greek government there. So, when Turkey starts to talk about joining the EU, it becomes time to address this dirty laundry, as Turkey is currently opposed the international community on this point. I mean, as Turkey is currently occupying an EU nation, this would be something that needs to be addressed.

You and your letter designations for friends/acquaintances...I'll never understand that, but hey.

Ok, so how did Turkey come to occupy a portion of Cyprus? And what puts the Cyprus controversy on the same order of magnitude as Darfur or Palestine? I don't think I've ever heard of rebellion or terrorism in that region. I'm off to go research the matter... I'll post something when I figure it out.

The Ottoman empire conquered Cyprus in the 1500's, which is when Turkish settlement began. After World War I, Cyprus became a colony under British rule. When the Republic of Cyprus was founded (1960) it was founded with a bi-communal consitutional framework. In other words, Turks and Greeks were both equally Cypriots.
Then, in the 70's, Greece invaded Cyprus, Turkey retaliated, and the island was divided into Turkish and Greek territories.

As to the EU bit, the Greek-Cypriots broke the consitution of The Republic of Cyprus by applying for membership to the EU without consent from the Turkish-Cypriots.

Why the fault is put on Turkey is beyond me. I personally think that it's Britian's fault, for not dealing with the political issues, and not developing the island economically when it was under their rule. Or maybe it's the EU's fault for accepting Cyprus without resolving the political issues first. Why is it a requirement for Turkey, yet it wasn't for Cyprus?

Of course, my opinion is biased, so I will also give you my totally unbiased summarization of the situation.
1. Turks and Greeks have both lived in Cyprus for a very, very, long time.
2. The Turkish-Greek relationship has always been a love-hate relationship. Without the love.

Regards,
Evan

I don't know about fault concerning Cyprus, but the problem has been going on for so long that it hardly matters anymore. I do know that Turkey does have troops on the ground there, which makes it an immediate diplomatic mess. Cyprus isn't a particularly high body-count area, which is why you don't hear about it on the news all that much, but in terms of internal stability it's on par with say, Dublin or Jerusalem. In other words, stay indoors if you can help it.

The other big issue regarding Turkey and the EU is that Turkey has a population slightly bigger than France but an economy slightly bigger than Poland. Which means we have a mostly Islamic, mostly poor population. Oh, screw it: Turkey is a Third World country. But in terms of its government, it's a lot more like Europe than the rest of the Middle East. In terms of its population and culture, it's a lot more like the Middle East than Europe, especially anywhere outside Istanbul. The right-wing Islamist factions in the country are gaining power in the Turkish parliment, which doesn't bode well. Add to that the fact that Turkish immigrants/migrants are currently the European version of Mexicans: poorly-educated, crime-prone, unskilled laborers who are viewed as a drain on an already struggling economy while providing critical services that Europeans can't be bothered to do themselves. In short, Turkey is a real problem.