AKEL and CTP leaders express hope for progress in Swiss talks

AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou and President of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Mehmet Ali Talat have expressed the hope that progress will be achieved at this weeks Cyprus talks between the two leaders in Switzerland.

In statements following their meeting on Saturday in the buffer zone Kyprianou and Talat stressed that if no progress is achieved in Switzerland the meeting will not be the end of the road and efforts should continue.

“It is true that we have different approaches on basic aspects of the Cyprus problem,” he said referring to the two sides but added that “what we have agreed on is that it is of vital importance to carry out efforts to overcome these differences respecting of course the principles on which the solution of the problem should be based on and at the same time respecting the concerns of each community”.

He went on to say that “our wish and our message to the two leaders is to make their utmost efforts in order to give the possibility to the process to continue with the issues of the security and territory in order to reach an agreement the soonest possible”.

For his part, Talat said 2016 is a crucial year for the solution of the Cyprus problems.

If we really want a solution to the Cyprus problem, he added, we have to utilise all means and all meetings in order to end this problem, adding that this might be a turning point.

The CTP leader said that “we support the meeting and we want concrete results from this meeting on all the issues on the negotiating table including the territory issue and also if possible some progress and some discussions to take place on the security issue in order to pave the way for a final solution”.

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.