Nicosia Uncut - Island Talks

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 62: UNSG Special Representative Colin Stewart answered your questions (7/8/2025)

In this special episode of Nicosia Uncut, UN Secretary General's outgoing Special Representative and Head of UNFICYP Colin Stewart responded questions by Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli, as well by the podcast audience. Is UN part of the status-quo in Cyprus? What is his assessment for the future? Do we need to revise the job-description of the UN in Cyprus? What is his biggest legacy? Is UN biased? His views about civil society in Cyprus? Should we set up citizens' assemblies? What about the international players? A future where opposing politicians are working together under the same roof? What…

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 61: The Divided Island – “The generational trauma is real and profound” (16/7/2025)

On the 51st anniversary of 1974 events, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli host Cey Sesigüzel and Andreas Tokkallos, co-producers of "The Divided Island" documentary at Nicosia Uncut podcast. These two British-Cypriot filmmakers of Two Fresh Productions are hailing from both communities and they featured real stories of Cypriots from various generations. The work is a striking contrast to the official narratives and propaganda of sides and provides humanitarian stories from the past in the first part, and a vision for the future in the second. The documentary that won the Best Documentary Feature at South London Film Festival, features James Ker-Lindsay, Andrekos Varnava, Sylvia Zacharia, Yaşar Ismailoǧlu, Tom Fortis-Mayer, Christina Pavlou, Suleyman Camgoz, Nick Yiannoullou, Sevgül Uludaǧ, Serife Gül, Ipek Özerim, and Nicosia Uncut producers Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli. It can be watched at: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thedividedisland

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 60: Special guest Nilgün Arısan Eralp – Will Turkey and Greece finally solve their differences ? (10/7/2025)

Read more about the article Nicosia Uncut – Episode 60: Special guest Nilgün Arısan Eralp – Will Turkey and Greece finally solve their differences ? (10/7/2025)

In this epsiode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykallı host Nilgün Arısan Eralp, Director of European Union Institute of TEPAV, a leading policy and research centre in Türkiye. Latest state of affairs in Turkish-Greek political dialogue; how will this affect the Cyprus problem? Is it possible to talk about repositioning of the EU towards Turkey? Should we expect Turkey to play an upgraded role in a possible new defence architecture in Europe? Is the EU turning a blind eye to the democratic backsliding in Turkey? What is Turkey's vision towards Cyprus? Is Israel against a power-sharing mechanism in Cyprus? What should we expect from the upcoming Turkish Cypriot elections?

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 59: Geneva done. What’s now for Cyprus and where is the EU in this? (25/3/2025)

On 17 and 18 March, the Cypriot leaders and the guarantor powers met with the UN Secretary General in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting was named as informal and nobody was sure what the expected outcome would be as the positions of the sides were clearly not bridgable. In the end, a number of confidence building measures were announced. Appointment of a new envoy was also agreed. In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli discuss the result of the informal meeting, the new format of the Cyprus talks, geopolitical setting, strained relations on both sides of the Atlantic, and what's next for Cyprus!

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 58: Cyprus problem in Geneva again: What should we expect? (22/2/2025)

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli host Fiona Mullen, Director of Sapienta Economics. A 5 party conference on Cyprus is scheduled to take place on 17/18 March 2025 at the UN in Geneva. Apart from the two Cypriot sides, the Guarantor powers, Turkey, Greece and the UK will be represented. What should we expect from this meeting? What are the local, regional and international dynamics leading to this meeting. What is the UN's roadmap? What about the EU? How will the Greco-Turkish relations affect the talks? Is the Cypriot political elite ready for a…

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 57: InPeace project elaborates on the bicommunal technical committees in Cyprus (20/1/2025)

In this first Nicosia Uncut episode of 2025, Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli host Dr.Nasia Hadjigeorgiou and Fezile Osum to discuss the bicommunal technical committees that have been established within the framework of Cyprus problem. Both Fezile and Nasia are running the EU funded InPeace Project (Inclusive Peacebuilding: The Technical Committees in Cyprus ) that studies the technical committees. In 2008, six bicommunal Technical Committees were established by the Greek Cypriot (GC) and Turkish Cypriot (TC) community leaders to ‘address issues that affect the day-to-day life of people, through encouraging and facilitating greater interaction and understanding between the two communities’; …

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 56: Multiparty meeting: each side sees it differently (18/11/2024)

Following Guterres' dinner with the Cypriot leaders in New York, an agreement has been reached to continue informal meetings with the participation of the Guarantor powers. The participation of the UK might not be at the same level as the other two, as the official position of the Turkish/Turkish Cypriot side has been for the four-party meeting rather than five. The sides have also committed to work on opening new crossing points. So the upcoming multi-party meeting is being regarded differently by the sides. While the Greek/Greek Cypriot side declares that they are interested in resuming talks on bi-communal,…

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 55: A dinner, but hardly a date (7/10/2024)

The two Cypriot leaders have agreed to meet for a "social dinner" at the presence of the UN Secretary General. The expectations are low as sides have shown no signs of departure from their respective positions. While the Turkish Cypriot side is adamant on their so called "two states" position, which is vocally and openly supported by the Turkish government, the Greek Cypriot side has been consistent expressing their commirment to a bicommunal, bizonal federation as stipulated by the numerous UN resoutions. The negative developments in the Middle East is regarded as a distracting factor for the attempts to…

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 54: July is the month of Cyprob (1/7/2024)

After a short break, Nicosia Uncut is back with Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli discussing the recent attempts of UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin with the Cypriot leaders. There isn't a lot of hope for a breakthrough for ther resumption of talks but are we going to see any result at all? A confidence building measure maybe? In the meantime, the UN bureaucracts and diplomats involved in the Cyprus problem are busy putting the last marks on the UN Secretary General's reports, for good offices and the UNFICYP, to the Security Council. Regional politics, NATO prospects for Cyprus, EU…

Nicosia Uncut – Episode 53: Special guest Fiona Mullen: How can we revitalize the solution process ? (6/3/2023)

In this episode of Nicosia Uncut; Andromachi Sophocleous and Kemal Baykalli host Fiona Mullen, Director of Sapienta Economics and the producer of Figure It podcast. Fiona has been studying, advising and in the past working on the Cyprus settlement process for more than two decades now. In this episode, they discuss what needs to be done to revitalize the Cyprus peace process, the challenges of new envoy Maria Holguin Cuellar is facing and why the international community needs to get involved to support the process. Fiona suggests that existing structures and parameters of the process have certain challenges which…