Former Turkish Cypriot President, Talat has said that the election of Nicolas Papadopoulos (above) as leader of the Greek Cypriot Democratic Party (DIKO), could be a disaster.
According to Turkish Cypriot daily ‘Kibris Postasi’, the former president said that if Nicolas Papadopoulos adheres to his father’s politics, it would not leave much hope for the Cyprus peace talks. Papdopoulos’ father Tassos had campaigned for a “no” vote prior to the 2004 Annan Plan referendum. Talat commented however that, “… we have to wait and see”.
Talat also added that the UN and EU had been exerting pressure for the two sides to come up with a joint statement, thus “we turn an inessential issue into something important”, he said.
Nicolas Papadopoulos, the newly elected leader of DIKO, which is the minority member of President Anastasiade’s coalition government, said that he supports President Anastasiades’ approach to the restart of the peace negotiations.
“As regards the joint communiqué, the president must insist on his position that we should not sacrifice content for the sake of form. The basis of the talks must be clarified.
Constructive ambiguities over the content of the communiqué simply help the Turkish Cypriot side depart from the framework of the negotiations. If we proceed with an unclear communiqué and unclear basis, we will simply delay apportioning blame because we will not be able to have any real progress in the talks,” he said.
The new DIKO leader further argued: “The joint communiqué is not a formality, it is an essential clarification on the basis of the talks. And we will support this position of the president. We seek to strengthen his negotiating position.”
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