PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday he believed that new prospects and new possibilities would emerge that would help find a solution to the Cyprus problem. European principles could help formulate the appropriate conditions for a solution that would address the legitimate concerns of Greek and Turkish Cypriots, he told an audience at the opening of the 29th International Fair yesterday.
Papadopoulos assured Turkish Cypriots that he remained committed to a functional solution of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation that would allow Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots to live in peace and freedom, security, progress and prosperity.
Referring to the absence of a political settlement, he said a lot more could have been achieved by everybody if the UN proposed solution plan provided a unified economy with free investment throughout Cyprus.
“The people of Cyprus were not given the option of a solution that would meet their minimum objectives and goals or the feeling of security and the safeguarding of the implementation of the solution, which spans over an 18-year period,” he said.
He said the decision of the Greek Cypriots to reject the Annan plan should be fully respected not only in words but also by deeds because they rejected this specific plan and not a settlement.
Addressing the Turkish Cypriots, he said he remained firm and consistent in his objective to achieve a functional solution of a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation.
“There will be a continuation, and new prospects and new possibilities will be created. We can, on the basis of European principles and values, formulate the appropriate conditions for a solution that would meet and address the legitimate concerns of Greek and Turkish Cypriots,” he said.
Foreign Minister George Iacovou yesterday insisted that the government had a strategy for post-referendum Cyprus. Speaking on his return from meetings in Dublin, Athens, Stockholm and London, Iacovou said the climate after the ‘no’ vote was very good in the foreign ministries abroad, but a bit more negative in the media and with parliamentarians.
Asked whether the government had any strategy on the Cyprus problem, he replied: “Of course the government has a strategy, neither the President nor myself sit around in Cyprus.”
He stressed that he had been making contacts abroad from the start of the problem and that no one had closed the door to him.
Iacovou said he had no information on reports that Britain and the Commission were moving towards setting up direct trade and direct flights with the north.
Asked about Wednesday’s two-hour visit to Cyprus by European Council President and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, he said he was not yet fully aware of the details of his visit, but that Ahern had come to discuss preparations for the next European Summit.
The minister added that that was the main issue discussed with British Foreign Minister Jack Straw on Wednesday.
