The Heybeliada Talks: Two Years of Public Diplomacy on Cyprus

Since July 2008, Global Political Trends Center (GPoT) has been bringing together opinion leaders from North and South Cyprus, as well as Greece and Turkey, under the banner of the “Heybeliada Talks” to discuss issues pertaining to the solution of the Cyprus problem. The meetings, usually closed to journalists and conducted under Chatham House rules, provided the participants with a trusting environment to frankly debate contested issues, usually in parallel with the official negotiations. GPoT Center is by principle committed to the ideals of dialogue, non-violence, reconciliation and consensus for both this process and the eventual solution. This publication is a combination of the work of the GPoT staff and the participants of the nine rounds of the Heybeliada Talks held to date. Our main objective in preparing this book has been to consolidate the ideas put forth during the past years by Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, and to have them be accessible to a wider public of policy-makers, media and academics, as well as governments and political figures.