THE COUNCIL of Europe’s (CoE) Secretary-general, Walter Schwimmer, said yesterday the CoE fully supported a solution to the Cyprus problem and would contribute towards the reconciliation of both communities on the island.
“There is now a window of opportunity to find a solution, in particular also with a change of mood of the Turkish Cypriot population and a new attitude of the Turkish government in Ankara,” Schwimmer told journalists following a meeting with President Glafcos Clerides yesterday morning.
He added that the CoE would do whatever it could to support a solution and, in the event of an agreement, would contribute to reconciling the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities.
Schwimmer, who is in Cyprus on a five-day official visit, yesterday held “very constructive and very positive” meetings with Clerides, House president Demetris Christofias and Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides.
“We are interested in finding a solution to the Cyprus problem and in reunifying the island. We do not want to see any more divided lines or cities in Europe,” said Schwimmer, adding both sides had to take advantage of the present favourable political situation. And he agreed with Christofias that a solution had to respect the human rights and basic freedoms of all communities living on the island and hoped that “the Cypriot representation’s empty place in the CoE would soon be filled by Turkish Cypriots”.
Other than the Cyprus problem, the Secretary-general and Cassoulides discussed the CoE’s continued struggle to fight migration, money laundering, organised crime, racism and xenophobia issues. Schwimmer commended Cyprus as an active player within the CoE and said its attempts to strengthen stability and peace in Europe had not gone unnoticed. Cassoulides said, this was because, despite the island’s small size, it had upheld the Council’s foundations as it gave great importance to democracy, the protection of human rights and state justice.
Commenting on Clerides’ surprise announcement last Friday that he planned to stand for re-election in next month’s presidential elections, Schwimmer said he was “impressed by President Clerides’ personal commitment to a solution of this conflict”.
“He informed me,” said Schwimmer, “about his intentions (and) why he wants to run again for president for a period of 16 months. I think that it is a great success for President Clerides that Cyprus is accepted a s a new member-country of the European Union and he wants to use that time until the final accession to the EU (on May 1, 2004) and to a find a solution to the reunification of the island”.
Schwimmer will meet today with political parties from both sides at the Ledra Palace hotel checkpoint at 9am.
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.
