Cypriot president calls for final drive to reunify

Source: Xinhua| 2017-05-23 04:07:19|Editor: yan
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NICOSIA, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on Monday called for a final drive to end the division of the eastern Mediterranean island.

"Time has come to talk about results that will end the Cyprus conflict. We'll make representations in every direction for a new initiative to conclude an agreement," Anastasiades told a press conference after making a television address to the people.

Anastasiades called the press conference to explain his proposal for the resumption of an international conference to discuss security arrangements as a priority.

He said that his move was in response to a suggestion by Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci for an international conference to discuss all pending issues.

"Such a conference would lead to a resumption of discussions at which each side will repeat its words without moving forward. My proposal has the prospect of reaching a conclusion once the most crucial issue, that of security, is deal with successfully," Anastasiades said.

He said that discussing security first will test the sincerity of Turkey in saying that it wants a Cyprus solution.

Akinci has turned down Anastasiades' proposal saying that it amounts to raising preconditions.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a rare interview with a Greek Cypriot newspaper on Sunday that Ankara wants to keep in Cyprus part of the troops who occupied the northern region of the island in 1974, in reaction to a short-lived coup by the military rulers of Greece at the time.

Turkey also wants to maintain guarantee rights over Cyprus it acquired when the island became independent in 1960.

The fate of the Cyprus negotiations hangs on compromise proposals which press reports said were prepared by United Nations Secretary-General's special adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide.

He was reported to be preparing to discuss his proposal at separate meetings with the two community leaders on Wednesday.

The United Nations are worried that in case of a prolonged deadlock, the negotiations would be sidelined by upcoming presidential elections in February.

They are also worried that the process may be completely derailed if Turkey reacts by taking military action when French Total company starts an exploratory drilling for natural gas which Ankara claims is illegal and Cyprus says it is within its sovereign rights.

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