Bi-communal ban a ‘devious’ decision

GOVERNMENT spokesman Manolis Christofides yesterday denounced the Turkish Cypriot side’s recent decision to suspend bi-communal contacts, saying it served “other purposes and expediencies”.

Taner Etkin, the Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign minister’, announced the suspension of bi-communal activities from last Saturday. He said the move was to allow the Turkish Cypriot side to review the recent EU decision to open accession talks with Cyprus in the spring.

Christofides described the decision as “unfortunate and devious”, stressing that bi-communal meetings served “the good intentions of the Cypriot people”.

His views were echoed yesterday by Unficyp spokesman Waldemar Rokoszewski, who said the UN’s bi-communal activities were “an integral part of the UN peace effort”.

The decision to suspend bi-communal talks has also drawn fire from opposition parties in the occupied north, according to Turkish Cypriot press reports.

Communal Liberation Party leader Mustafa Akinci was reported yesterday as saying such policies harmed Turkish Cypriot interests. he demanded the immediate resumption of bi-communal contacts, and added that the Turkish Cypriot side could ill-afford the luxury of rejecting talks. His voice joined that of Republican Turkish Party leader, Mehmet Ali Talat, who said on Monday the decision was “illogical”.

Turkish Cypriot papers yesterday quoted ‘Prime minister’ Dervis Eroglu as saying the suspension of bi-communal meetings was temporary; he warned, however, that permanent counter-measures in the wake of the EU decision would be announced in the New Year.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.