Most want negotiations to continue

MOST Cypriots believe that ongoing negotiations should continue until a successful outcome is reached, according to poll results released yesterday by the Cyprus 2015 research programme.

According to a poll of 800 people from each community by Cyprus 2015’s Alexandros Lordos and Spyros Christou, 83 per cent of Greek Cypriots and 60 per cent of Turkish Cypriots believe in the negotiations.

The poll also showed that 79 per cent of Greek Cypriots and 76 per cent of Turkish Cypriots would accept a federation as part of a compromise and an overwhelming majority of both communities want a mechanism of informing citizens about the progress of the talks.

While these statistics are encouraging for those in favour of a Cyprus solution, the poll indicated a lack of trust in the other community in 84 per cent of Greek Cypriots and 70 per cent of Turkish Cypriots. At the same time 87 per cent of Greek Cypriot respondents and 59 per cent of Turkish Cypriot respondents expressed concern about being under the control of the other community.

Just over half of all respondents approved greater involvement in the negotiations by outside parties, with 59 per cent and 53 per cent stated approving of Greek, Turkish and the EU participation.

Some 800 Greek Cypriots and 800 residents of the occupied areas took part in the poll and as Lordos noted the occupied areas sample included about 75 per cent Turkish Cypriots and 25 per cent settlers who had been awarded with the occupied areas “citizenship” before 2004.

The Cyprus 2015 research programme is being carried out in co-operation with the NGO, Interpeace, and is funded by the UNDP and EU representation in Cyprus.

For more information, visit http://www.cyprus2015.org/



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.