Mustafa Akıncı says differences between island’s two sides are growing more entrenched
Luke Harding in Nicosia
Thu 6 Feb 2020
THE GUARDIAN
The Cyprus president, Nicos Anastasiades (L), meets the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akıncı, in Nicosia on Monday. Photograph: Katia Christodoulou/EPA
The president of Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus has warned the Mediterranean island faces permanent partition of its Greek and Turkish communities unless an agreement is swiftly reached involving an “equitable” federal solution.
In an interview with the Guardian, Mustafa Akıncı said the differences between the two sides were growing more entrenched every year, diminishing the prospect of reunification. “We need to hurry up. After all these years we have come to a crossroads, a decisive moment,” he said.
Akıncı – who on Wednesday evening launched his re-election campaign – said the only viable solution to Cyprus’s nearly half century of division was reunification under a federal “roof”. If this failed to happen, he said the north would grow increasingly dependent on Ankara and could end up being swallowed up, as a de facto Turkish province.
Categories: Cyprus, Europe, Europe and Australia, Turkey
As I lived in Cyprus for 6 months in 2003 (and visited the North of the island also several times) my heart is there also. Silly not to go forward with reunification !!!!
As I knew I will not be in Cyprus too long I tried hard NOT to get used to the beautiful island too much …
My stay in Cyprus:
https://themuslimtimes.info/2017/08/24/glimpses-into-the-life-of-a-global-nomad-part-nine/comment-page-1/