Wrong to cultivate optimism of ‘imminent’ solution

IT would be wrong to cultivate excessive optimism of an imminent solution to the Cyprus problem, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Friday.

In an interview to the Associated Press, Anastasiades said a deal could be reached this year, but difficulties remain and bridging differences requires more time.

He cited United Nations envoy Espen Barth Eide as one source of such hyper-optimism, saying he may have wanted to “bolster momentum”.

But, Anastasiades noted, many details need to be discussed and agreed so that no ambiguities and unresolved issues remain with regard to “core issues”.

One such key difference, Anastasiades said, is Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci’s insistence on a guaranteed majority of Turkish Cypriots in terms of population and ownership in the Turkish Cypriot-governed part of the post-solution country.

An added difficulty, he said, is the high cost of reunification, for which donations from other countries and “low-interest loans” will be required.

But, he noted, an agreed solution would allow Turkey to become “a key conveyor of natural gas to Europe”, the Associated Press reported.

 

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.