Anastasiades ‘won’t abandon talks over difficulties’

President Nicos Anastasiades said on Wednesday night the Greek Cypriot side would not leave the negotiating table “just because we disagree with the positions” of the other side.

Speaking at an event to unveil a monument to the fallen and missing of Peristerona village in the Nicosia district, Anastasiades said: “I know we will have difficulties… and I want to be honest and straight with you; there has been progress, but there are problems.”

“But we will not abandon the negotiating table because we disagree with the positions shown. We will try to mobilise all those who can influence primarily and above all, the occupying power, Turkey,” he added.

Secondly, he said, through reasoned argument, but also taking into account “without exception”, the concerns of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, he would strive to give convincing answers in order to achieve the solution “to which we all aspire” –  the reunification of Cyprus and the creation of the necessary conditions to finally live in peace.

Anastasiades said Cyprus no longer needed young people to give their blood and their lives.  “It needs to create scientists and people who will live together in peace as co-creators,” he said but warned that “painful compromises” would be needed.

 

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.