Turkey hints at alternative to federation for Cyprus peace deal

A Turkish foreign ministry official on Thursday said reunifying Cyprus as a federation may not be possible and is suggesting that alternatives should be sought to resolve the island nation's decades-long ethnic division.

Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy faulted the "Greek Cypriots' mindset" for the collapse of numerous rounds of peace talks, including the latest nearly a year ago.

Aksoy said Turkey believes "that it is time to try a new way" in achieving a peace deal. He didn't elaborate on what the alternatives could be.

If Turkey no longer supports a federal deal for Cyprus, it would be a major shift from long-established parameters that have steered negotiations over four decades.

Those parameters envision the two zones separately administered by Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots unifying under a jointly run federal structure.

Cyprus was split into an internationally-recognised Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkey exercised its right under an international treaty to militarily intervene following a coup by the Greek junta on the island. 

The coup aimed to annex Cyprus to Greece in a move its supporters called enosis, which means the political union of Cyprus and Greece. 

Only Turkey recognises the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which declared independence in 1983 following years of failed peace talks with the Greek Cypriots.

Turkey still maintains a presence of more than 35,000 troops in the Turkish Cypriot north as a protective force.