The Cyprus peace process refers to negotiations and plans aimed at resolving the Cyprus Problem.
The peace efforts had begun around the time of the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, which split the multiethnic Republic of Cyprus into the Turkish-majority north and the Greek-majority south. The north later declared independence as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, although Turkey is the only United Nations (UN) member to recognise this. A ceasefire has been in place ever since, but a permanent solution has not been agreed to, and UN peacekeepers still operate a buffer zone between the two regions.[1]
There are two major approaches to resolve the Cyprus dispute: the reunification of Cyprus into a single state (as attempted in the Annan plan) and the two-state solution, which would legalise the current status quo. The majority of the international community supports the reunification of Cyprus into a single state, as does the Republic of Cyprus.[2]