Government welcomes Security Council stance

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday welcomed a statement from the UN Security Council confirming settlement talks should continue on an intercommunal, and not a two-state basis.

Thursday’s Security Council statement was a blow to Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, who — smarting at the EU’s decision to start accession talks with the government — had demanded recognition of his ‘Turkish Republic of Norther Cyprus’ as a pre-condition for his return to negotiations. The break-away state is recognised only by Turkey.

“Yesterday’s answer from the Security Council to Denktash’s unacceptable pre-conditions concerning the continuation of talks on the basis of intercommunal negotiations helps our handlings greatly,” government spokesman Christos Stylianides said.

He described the Security Council statement as “significant, especially in the face of continuing Turkish intransigence.”

“The position expressed by the Security Council is a position which strengthens us to continue our efforts for a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem,” Stylianides said.

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.