President Nicos Anastasiades has called for an end to acts of violence committed in the name of patriotism, as it would only serve to fuel the anti-solution lobby.
Referring to the incidents which took place in Nicosia on 16th November, where three separate attacks occurred against Turkish Cypriots, Anastasiades said that such acts would serve Turkey and those Turkish Cypriots who were against a Cyprus settlement.
The Greek Cypriot president was addressing a gathering on Sunday, organised to commemorate EOKA prisoners who were detained in Kokkinotrimithia during the 1955-59 uprising against British colonial rule.
Politically motivated acts of violence would give anti-solutionists the opportunity to demand the continuation of guarantees on the “pretext of security”, in the event of a solution to the Cyprus problem, Anastasiades said.
“We can and must take all share of the responsibility of educating to prevent similar phenomena,” he said about the attacks.
He also urged all Cypriots and political parties not to denounce the negotiations before they had been concluded. Currently details of the negotiations are being kept under wraps.
Anastasiades reminded that the talks were based on the principal that nothing was agreed unless everything is agreed. Therefore it would be premature and undermining to cultivate either optimism or pessimism about the process.
“In the end, it will not be the leader who signs the solution, but the people who will decide whether to accept or reject it,” he said.
“Today, after 14 meetings with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, I can tell you not to abandon hope because I feel that we have before us a historic opportunity to achieve a viable, functional solution of the Cyprus problem which will certainly meet the expectations of Greek Cypriots.”
In reference to the ‘red line’ demanded by the Turkish Cypriots that there should be derogations from the EU acquis, Anastasiades said that Greek Cypriots should not give up their expectations when it came to the issue of human rights for all, as they are enshrined in all other European states.
Cyprus Mail
