The President of the Republic, Mr Nicos Anastasiades,
had a working lunch today with the former leader of the Turkish Cypriot
community, Mr Mehmet Ali Talat, in Nicosia.
In his remarks to the Press after the lunch that he
hosted, President Anastasiades said: “I
want to express my special satisfaction for my meeting with the former leader of
the Turkish Cypriot community with whom we maintained, maintain and will
maintain a continuing contact and an excellent relationship.
We have briefed each other on the current phase of the
Cyprus problem, but what is most important is what we both believe: that there
should be a determination by everybody to reach, at the earliest possible, a
solution that will meet the expectations of the Greek Cypriots and which will
not ignore the concerns of the Turkish Cypriots.
We believe that a prosperous homeland must not ignore
basic and fundamental principles, as those are expressed through our capacity as
a full EU member state.”
He added that during their meeting there was an exchange
of views and that he heard “the concerns, worries and thoughts with regard to
the further steps that will solidify this trust and will give us the opportunity
to be more productive during the ongoing dialogue.”
The President thanked Mr Talat for the opportunity they
had today “to affirm once again that there is a genuine desire for a solution to
the Cyprus problem that will reunify our homeland and will give the opportunity
to all legal Cypriot citizens to prosper within the European Union.”
The President noted that his meeting with Mr Talat does
not in any way interfere with the scheduled meetings with the leader of the
Turkish Cypriot community, Mr Dervis Eroglu. “On the contrary,” he added, “our
discussion will also assist in having more common understanding and in the
overall management of the dialogue we have with the elected leader of the
Turkish Cypriot community, Mr Eroglu.”
In his statement to the Turkish Cypriot media, the
President said: “We had a very
constructive and friendly meeting. We have exchanged views and we have tried to
see how we can be much more productive during the current negotiating process,
whilst at the same time we have agreed that we have to work much more intensely
in order to speed up the whole process.
We expressed hope that with good understanding and much
more will, we can reach, at the earliest possible, a solution that will not
ignore either the concerns of the Greek Cypriots or the concerns of our Turkish
Cypriot compatriots.”
He added that “we must realize that, as a country, we
are a member of the EU, we are Europeans, all those who legally live on this
blessed island, and we have to work together in order to implement the acquis
and human rights with full respect and full prospects.”
On his part, Mr Talat said that it was a fruitful
discussion during which they exchanged views on the ongoing negotiating process.
“The target is to reach a comprehensive settlement and
in order to do that we have to understand each other and to this end I mentioned
my idea regarding the launching of Turkish language teaching in Greek Cypriot
schools and the Greek language in Turkish Cypriot schools”, he said.
He added that the leaders of the two communities as well
as the media in both communities “should support this idea, since information is
very crucial in the creation of a peace culture.”
____________
