ABSTRACT
The Cyprus question remains one of the most persistent of international problems and continues to hamper relations in the eastern Mediterranean to this day. A brief background of the Cyprus question and the strategies adopted and implemented by the Greek and Turkish Cypriots from 1960 onwards is needed to discern the continuities and changes in these strategies and to see how the Cyprus question is continually in a state of transformation. A careful study of the events, declarations, decisions and deals made by different circles in the European Union (EU) suggest that the EU pursued a policy of tactical retreat in Helsinki, finally leaving Turkey in a very difficult position, in that Turkey was indirectly advised to accept an actual policy of retreat in Cyprus. The Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP) administration approached the EU with its foreign policy of 'zero problems with all neighbouring countries' and reached out to the Greek Cypriots to solve the Cyprus question.
