President Mehmet Ali Talat underlined the need for Greek Cypriots to realize the fact that they will be jointly governing Cyprus with their Turkish Cypriot partners under equal conditions.
He said the Greek Cypriot leader and other politicians have an important responsibility in spreading and contributing this understanding.
Mr Talat believes in the solution of the Cyprus problem if, he says, the opening commitments at the negotiations process are kept.
The President provided information and exchanged views on the latest developments concerning the Cyprus negotiations, with members from the Public Workers’ Union- KAMU-IS, during a visit to the KAMU-IS headquarters today.
“We have completed negotiating the first chapter of peace talks on governance and power-sharing. I think this was the most important subject of negotiations because problems in power sharing were one of the main reasons for the start of the Cyprus problem” Mr. Talat stressed.
Stating that there are other subjects and additional components to the issue of governance and power-sharing, he said there was general convergence on the first chapter between the sides.
Pointing to the difficult and complicated nature of the property issue, the current chapter being taken up in the talks, Talat said the issue of property emerged after the Cyprus problem began.
“The property issue is a hard issue because it involves every single individual. That’s the case for both sides. In the end, some will be pleased with the outcome, and some will not” Talat stated.
The President explained that the Turkish Cypriot side position supported the solution of the property dispute through compensation, exchange and restitution- which he said was in accordance with standing UN parameters.
Underlining the need for the Greek Cypriot Administration to prepare its people for a joint administration with Turkish Cypriots on the basis of equality, President Talat reminded that Turkish Cypriots proved their readiness on the issue with a ‘yes’ vote to the Annan Plan.
`Greek Cypriots should understand the fact that a partnership established by the two sides is for benefit of the whole of Cyprus. In fact, there are enough encouraging elements for Greek Cypriots on this` he said.
Talat said the partnership will also play an important role in terms of stability in the region.