Makarios would no longer support federation

THE LATE Archbishop Makarios would withdraw his support for a federation in Cyprus if he were alive today, said Archbishop Chrysostomos II yesterday at a ceremony to celebrate the former leader’s name day in Nicosia.
Speaking outside the historic Church of St Ioannis in the Archbishopric, the primate noted that this year marks 100 years since the birth of Makarios, the Cyprus Republic’s first president after independence from British colonial rule.
Asked whether Makarios had accepted a bicommunal, bizonal federation as a basis for a Cyprus solution, the primate replied: “Makarios accepted a federation with much heartache, so Makarios died and had he lived, he would take it back.”
“He offered a federation, not bizonality, just a federation simply because he had to make that concession to solve the national issue…when he saw that the Turks did not respect this concession, however, in his last speech he spoke of a long-term (problem), and if he had not suddenly left us, he would definitely have withdrawn it, he would not have kept it there,” said Chrysostomos.

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