Akinci says leaders working earnestly for a fair solution

Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said on Sunday he and President Nicos Anastasiades were working earnestly to create a unified federal state by means of reaching a mutually acceptable and fair solution to the Cyprus problem.

In a message to Turkish Cypriots to mark the Muslim religious holiday of Bayram, Akinci said the last meeting of the intensive negotiations would be taking place on September 14, after which he would travel to New York for contacts.

Akinci said after decades of isolation, under a solution, Turkish Cypriots would be equal founding partners in a federal government and would be masters of their own house.

In a referendum, when the time came, the people would make the decision for a new and bright future.

He said the two sides had made significant progress. “But the process is not completed yet,” he said.

“With realism and reasonableness the remaining issues could be finalised I believe.”

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.