Brussels, 05/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - President of the Republic of Cyprus, Dimitris Christofias, said on Thursday 5 July that his country would like to continue the dialogue with Turkey during the six months of the Cypriot presidency of the EU Council of Ministers to try to find a solution to the partition of the island. He regretted the hard line being taken by the Turkish authorities and by the Turkish Cypriot leader for all of whom these discussions will be in abeyance for the rest of this year. This is harder and more intransigent than previous lines taken, said Christofias, hoping for a softening of their positions. In his view, “Turkey has nothing to lose”, in resolving the conflict.
Christofias criticised Ankara's “colonialist” policy in the occupied part of Cyprus, stating that Turkish Cypriots are concerned that they are in danger of losing their identity as more and more Turks settle in that part of the island. He said: “6,000 people demonstrated against Turkish colonialism”. He also reproached Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - who refuses to meet him - for illegally visiting the northern part of the island and for considering it to be part of Turkey.
The attitude of the Cypriot government is much more conciliatory. Christofias pointed out that the Republic of Cyprus was trying to bring the citizens of the two zones closer together, allowing Turkish Cypriots to be cared for in Greek Cypriot public hospitals. Two additional checkpoints have also been opened.
Oil. The Cypriot President stated that his country had a “sovereign right” to explore for oil in its territorial waters. Revenue generated by extraction of any oil discovered will be shared between Cyprus's two federal regions, assuming that the issue of the division of the island has been resolved and the “federal system is in operation”. (CG/transl.rt)