President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades has been in the UK since Sunday, after accepting an invitation from the Queen of England to participate in celebrations honoring Cyprus’ membership in the Commonwealth.
President Anastasiades met with Cypriots who live, study and work in the United Kingdom on Sunday evening. He informed them about his government’s efforts to resume talks with the Turkish Cypriots in order to find a viable solution on the Cyprus issue.
”Unfortunately, it is Turkey’s intransigence that did not allow reaching a settlement which would demonstrate to Greek Cypriots that it would be viable, functional and that it could secure an independent and sovereign country,” President Anastasiades stated.
He added, in his address to the attendees of the dinner, which had been organized by the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK, that it would also be important that any settlement “would respect EU principles and values.”
The Cypriot president assured them that, based on these principles, he is still trying to find a way of creating the conditions that would allow Greek Cypriots to accept a settlement.
Referring more specifically to the efforts to resume settlement talks, Anastasiades said that the Cypriot, Greek, British and European sides have met with the UN Secretary General’s special envoy for Cyprus, Jane Holl Lute, three times.
”We are waiting for the third meeting with Ankara to be finalized. A lot will depend on what will be said, but also on what the terms of reference will entail,” the Cypriot President noted.
President Anastasiades will be the honored guest of Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace on Monday evening as part of the “Celebration for Cyprus” ceremonies.
With information from C.N.A.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
