That and a garrison of 21,000-40,000 Turkish soldiers (the figure, like everything here, is disputed). The Turkish Cypriot republic remains economically isolated. There is an international embargo. There are no direct flights.

The prospects for a settlement, meanwhile, remain as distant as ever.

On Sunday the Greek Cypriot leader, Demetris Christofias, will meet his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, Dervis Eroglu, for the latest round of talks. These are taking place under the auspices of the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and the venue is Greentree, a cosy UN country retreat with log fires, a couple of hours' drive from New York.

The two sides met here in November, but neither expresses much hope that a deal is near. "I am very pessimistic," said Cyprus's foreign minister, Erato Kozakou Marcoullis. "It will takea miracle." The UN is exasperated at the failure of both parties to bring the talks to any kind of conclusion after decades of on-off negotiations and a 2004 referendum on reunification, which was accepted by the north but voted down by the south.

The UN wants a solution before Cyprus takes over the EU rotating presidency on 1 July. Turkey has signalled that it will suspend its links with the EU's presidency while (Greek) Cyprus sits in the chair.

The discovery of up to 8tn tonnes of gas off Cyprus's eastern coast is another UN headache. The Turkish Cypriots lay claim to a share of it. Rebuffed, they have started their own undersea explorations.

"No one ever lost any money betting on a non-solution to the Cyprus problem," said Hubert