[1][2] Further negotiations took place after the Greek Cypriot presidential election of 2008 but these first ran into difficulty over disputes about the extent of the Republic of Cyprus's exclusive economic zone and oil exploration within it, and then collapsed over a legal case in a British court which supported Greek Cypriots' property rights within territory controlled by Northern Cyprus.
Gas was discovered in both Cypriot and neighbouring Israeli waters,[3][4] but the simplest way of getting it to customers in Europe would be via a pipeline through Turkey.
[1] On 11 February 2014, the leaders of Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, Nicos Anastasiades and Derviş Eroğlu, respectively, revealed the following joint declaration:[5] The governments of both Greece and Turkey expressed their support for renewed peace talks.
[9] On 27 February, DIKO decided to leave the coalition government, with the rationale that the Joint Declaration conceded separate sovereignty to Turkish Cypriots.
[11] Anastasiades refused to attend the meeting on 9 October 2014,[12] and talks did not resume until May 2015, after the election of Mustafa Akıncı as the Turkish Cypriot president in April 2015.