Paphos People

Turkish Cypriots urge unity talks

Christofias has already arranged to meet the Turkish Cypriot president
The Turkish Cypriot leader has called on the new Cyprus president to resume negotiations as soon as possible in an effort to reunite the island.
Mehmet Ali Talat was speaking just hours after left-wing leader Demetris Christofias won the Cyprus presidential election on Sunday.

The Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been divided since 1974. Greek Cypriots rejected a UN peace plan in 2004.

The European Commission has urged Mr Christofias to work towards a deal.

Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso called on him to "grasp this chance and without delay start negotiations" under United Nations auspices.

At a news conference later Mr Talat said: "I genuinely congratulate Mr Christofias and I call on him to co-operate in the process of negotiations, which should start as soon as possible."



A spokesman for Mr Talat said the two men had agreed to meet "at the earliest possible date".

But Mr Talat also said he did not want a repeat of 2004, when the Greek Cypriots "hid their real agenda until the last minute".

Mr Christofias defeated rival right-winger Ioannis Kasoulides in a second round of voting.

Long-running dispute

Cyprus has been divided since Turkey sent troops into the north in 1974, after a coup by Greek Cypriots designed to produce union with Greece.

Tomorrow is a new day and there will be many difficulties before us

Demetris Christofias


Can Christofias heal divide?

The island's partition has long stood as an obstacle to Turkey's bid to join the EU, and remains a source of contention between Nato allies Turkey and Greece.

Reunification talks have been deadlocked since Greek Cypriots rejected a UN peace plan in a referendum in 2004. Turkish Cypriots accepted the plan.

Mr Christofias told a stadium full of exuberant supporters on Sunday that he extended "a hand of friendship to my compatriots the Turkish Cypriots and their political leadership".

"I call on them to work together for our common cause, a country of peace," said the 61-year-old president-elect.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is only recognised by Turkey.

UN forces patrol a buffer zone across the island.

Sensitive issues

The defeated Mr Kasoulides congratulated his rival and offered to help find a solution to the division of Cyprus.

The two men had emerged neck-and-neck from the first round of the election, which saw the defeat of President Tassos Papadopoulos.

Official figures showed Mr Christofias, who heads the communist Akel party, won 53.36% of the vote to Mr Kasoulides's 46.64% in Sunday's second round.

Akel supporters celebrated victory outside the party headquarters in Nicosia, chanting slogans and waving flags. Car horns could be heard across the city.

"Tomorrow is a new day and there will be many difficulties before us," Mr Christofias told supporters.

"We need to gather our strength to achieve the reunification of our homeland."

Mr Christofias is likely to find that any progress on reunification will be slow and difficult, says the BBC's Tabitha Morgan in Nicosia.

Many sensitive issues remain unresolved, including the return of refugees, security and the constitution.

The president-elect has already made an alliance with the party of the defeated Mr Papadopoulos - the man who firmly rejected the last UN plan to solve the Cyprus problem.

Is this going to be a good thing for all the non-Cypriots that live in Cyprus or a bad thing

I sat with my accountant for 30 minutes yesterday
he is also a local politician , He told me that not much will change
in the near future,
that they will start to talk about re-unification of the island but it will be a few years and it will benifit everyone ..

He said the communists that won, are bigger capatilists the
ones that lost

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Whilst the optimist and the pessimist argued that the whisky glass was either half full
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I drank it .....
The opportunist..