AFTER years of foot-dragging by Greek-Cypriot leaders, who have been keener to block Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union than to end the island’s 40-year division, new talks on reunifying Cyprus are to start. Unlike his predecessors, President Nicos Anastasiades wants a deal with Dervis Eroglu, his Turkish-Cypriot counterpart. According to a “road-map” put forward by the two men when they met on the UN’s “green line” on February 11th, the two communities would unite under a confederation but run their affairs as “constituent states”.So far, so good. But can tricky issues like property and security, which have sunk previous talks, be resolved this time? It helps that the Americans are involved; they have prodded officials in Ankara and Nicosia to back the new proposal. The talks will be held as usual under UN sponsorship. For the first time the two leaders insist that they want to see results and aim to reach a deal “as soon as possible”.Recent discoveries of gas in the eastern Mediterranean could be a catalyst for building an energy partnership that would include Turkey, say the Americans. The simplest way of getting the gas to energy-hungry Europe would be through a pipeline to Turkey. (A Greek-Cypriot plan to build a gas terminal on Cyprus and an undersea pipeline to Crete, Greece and Italy, is seen as expensive and impracticable.) Three-way co-operation could...
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