Hamnet, Cyprus, and the child that never grew up

Political optimism cannot thaw what has frozen the Cyprus conflict for more than half a century. What holds the island back is not simply the geopolitics of failed negotiations. It is something more intimate and less readily acknowledged: unresolved grief.

Last week, Cyprus mourned George Vassiliou, a former president remembered for his insistence that dogma has consequences and postponement of a solution has a price. The condolences that crossed the divide after his death, offered in both Greek and Turkish...