“Political will is what is at need for the attainment of an agreement for the reunification of Cyprus and for the normalization of relations between Greece and Turkey,” said Prime Minister Papandreou during his recent visit to Cyprus.

“We also need to create conditions of trust between Greece and Turkey and between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots, for without trust no legal form of an agreement will survive through time.” He also emphasized that without the prospect of accession to the European Union, Turkey will have no incentive to move towards the resolution of the Cyprus problem.

Prime Minister Papandreou said that time is of the essence, since the nature of a problem gets more complicated as time progresses.

And last but not least, he emphasized that “the solution of the Cyprus problem will constitute a major achievement for world peace”, reminding us what the whole international community is indicating to us, that the reunification of Cyprus will set a bright example for the resolution of other long lasting conflicts in the world.

In a similar call for peace, on 27th February, Prime Minister Erdoğan talked to Cypriots about his vision of converting the Eastern Mediterranean into an area of peace, cooperation and stability, that will bring benefits to all.

“It is time”, he said, “to stop investing in military equipment and start investing in people”. He even found the courage to speak about withdrawing the Turkish army from Cyprus if an agreement is found, at a time when he is in direct conflict with the army at home.

He made it obvious that he would like to see the EU accession process of Turkey proceed and that he would like to see progress being achieved in the bicommunal dialogue for the solution of the Cyprus problem, on the basis of a bizonal bicommunal federation with political equality as defined in relevant UN resolutions.

These statements by the Prime Ministers of Greece and Turkey should make us aware that times are changing. And they are changing in a way that creates opportunities that have to be exploited before they pass us by.

At the meeting of the foreign minister of Turkey with the deputy foreign minister of Greece last week in Ankara, Mr. Davutoğlu reiterated what Prime Minister Erdoğan had said and he reminded us of the earthquake diplomacy of 1999, while Mr. Droutsas spoke of the peace dividend that the solution will bring.

This is indeed the message that Three Ladies first presented in their Day After report of March 2008 about the economic opportunities to follow the reunification of Cyprus. The authors, Özlem Oğuz, Fiona Mullen and Praxoula Kyriacou, had based their estimates on the picking up of external transactions between Greece and Turkey that had followed the process of normalisation of political relations between the two countries, as this normalisation was initiated by the then respective ministers of foreign affairs, Mr. George Papandreou andand the late İsmail Cem in 1999.And if a peace dividend of 12000 euro per family per year awaits the Cypriots once their country reunifies, or 33000 new jobs await the unemployed then the Cypriots need to know about it; especially at a time when economic recession is testing the whole of Cyprus. The reunification of Cyprus will in the end be also the answer to the current economic misfortunes; and no one can take this lightly.

Leaders have to come out and assume their responsibilities letting people know about the truth, in all its dimensions.

Another truth that has to be told concerns the slogan ‘’solution by the Cypriots for the Cypriots”. For such a slogan is blindfolding and can boomerang under certain very probable conditions. For indeed, how can the solution of the Cyprus problem include the withdrawal of Turkish troops, if Turkey does not form part of the negotiating picture and hence of the solution?

More: link

By the President of the United Democrats,
Praxoula Antoniadou Kyriacou

Tags: citizens, elections, history, opportunities, peace, prosperity, rebuild confidence

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 15th, 2010 at 13:41 and is filed under Campaigns, Party Life, Political issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.