MUSTAFA AKINCI

As mayor of northern Nicosia in the late 1970s, Mustafa Akıncı helped to link Cyprus’ divided capital city with a single sewage system — one of the few successful attempts to bridge the “Green Line” splitting the Turkish and Greek sides of the island. Today, as president of the self-declared Turkish Cypriot state, Akıncı is trying to cross the divide once again — this time by reunifying the entire island.

In 2014, Akıncı was elected on a promise to revive stalled talks with the internationally recognized Greek portion of the island. Once in office, he was fortunate to find a willing partner on the other side of the line: Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. The two older men — Akıncı is 68; Anastasiades is 70 — were supporters of a 2004 bid to unify the island led by then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Both were disappointed when the majority of Greek Cypriots, including its most prominent politicians, rejected the deal.

This time, unlike in previous negotiations, the two leaders have taken full control of the process, meeting nearly every week for the last few months of 2016. The final deal could be put to a vote in 2017, if the last few, most sensitive issues can be resolved. These include Turkish Cyprus’ ties to Ankara, its sole benefactor for the past 42 years, and the presence of more than 30,000 Turkish troops on its side of the island. The talks stalled in November.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, center, shakes hands with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, left, and Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades| Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

Success will also depend on Akıncı’s and Anastasiades’ ability to convince voters who have grown up in a divided country that unification is worth supporting. The two men both grew up in Limassol, in southern Cyprus, and are part of the last generation that remembers what it was like to live in a mixed country where Greek Cypriots spoke Turkish and Turkish Cypriots spoke Greek.

“It is, of course, not easy to solve a problem that has been ongoing for 50 years,” Akıncı says. “However, together with Mr. Anastasiades, we are aware that we are engaged in the final trial of our generation.”

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