Christofias: two sides not getting closer

THE positions submitted by Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu in the negotiations to resolve the Cyprus problem are not bringing the two sides closer, President Demetris Christofias said yesterday.
“When I tell Mr. Eroglu that we have to reunite to celebrate the Bayram and Easter together, he agrees,” Christofias said. “But I am sorry to say, the positions he tables do not bring us close at present.”
Christofias said Turkey did not seem ready at this point to solve the Cyprus problem.
“Due to her own domestic and regional problems, which she has created, it appears that Turkey, at least at this point, is not ready to solve the Cyprus problem,” the president said.
He added that Turkey knows that without a fair and viable solution of the Cyprus problem it cannot join the European Union.
“Today we are fighting a tough battle under difficult circumstances to get rid of the occupation and partition,” Christofias said. “Rejection of partition is the fixed parameter of our policy, because partition means catastrophe.”
The continuation of the occupation and the island’s de facto division serves all those forces who aim at partitioning Cyprus, the president said.
“That is why they invest in a fruitless passage of time, stagnation, and deadlock to bolster the faits accompli.
“Partition will be the beginning of new suffering for our country and our people – Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots,” he said. “My promise is fixed and final: we will not yield from our commitment for a bizonal, bicommunal federation, because it is the only way to reunite the country, the people and our economy … to come together again, Greek and Turkish Cypriots, in conditions of peace, cooperation and joint participation in our federal state.”

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.