Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 20 expressed full support for the UN-sponsored peace talks in Cyprus, speaking at a ceremony in the Turkish Cypriot north of the long-divided island to mark the anniversary of Turkey’s 1974 intervention.

Mustafa Akinci, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) since April, met with Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades immediately after his election victory. The swift resumption of peace talks between the two sides came as a sign of their desire for a settlement.

Progress in the talks is recorded in the "AA papers," referring to both Akinci and Anastasiades, in which convergences are written down in black ink, while the demands and proposals of the Turkish Cypriot side are put in red and those of the Greek Cypriots in blue. A text fully in black ink means a breakthrough.

The joint declaration, agreed between Anastasiades and Dervis Eroglu, Akinci’s predecessor, on Feb. 11, 2014, still constitutes the backbone of the negotiations, which aim to reunite the island in a federation. Akinci said July 21 that the parties had agreed that the eventual federation, to be built on the principle of two equal constituent states, would be called the United Cyprus Federation.