Politis reports that the UN Secretary-General’s
Special Adviser Alexander Downer had separate meetings in Nicosia today with
the negotiators of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides, Andreas Mavroyiannis
and Osmen Ertug, while tomorrow he is expected to meet with President
Anastasiades.
Meanwhile the Acting Government Spokesman Victoras
Papadopoulos said that the Anan plan is dead as far as the Greek Cypriots and
President Anastasiades are concerned, and that a new plan is awaited, one that
will meet the expectations of the people.
He added that the joint communique for the start of
talks should contain the basic parameters of a solution. He admitted that there
was pressure from the UN on both sides to sort this out within four days, but
they did not consider this as blackmail.
Eroglu calls for new partnership
Kibris reports that Dervis Eroglu has stated that the
Turkish Cypriot side yesterday gave to the UN “its last proposal for a joint
communique”. He also said that an end should be put to the issue of the joint
communique in the event that the Greek Cypriot side rejects it. In a written
statement he calls on President Anastasiades to take advantage of Downer’s
presence on the island and sit down at the negotiating table continuing from
where they had left off with the aim of reaching a solution in the first
quarter of 2014. He added that the UN Secretary-General also agrees with this
view.
Speaking earlier at another event,
Eroglu said that a solution that provides for the evolution of the Republic of
Cyprus into a federation is unacceptable for the Turkish Cypriot people, Eroglu
has said, as it was “contrary to the experiences and existing realities on the
island” and could cause the victimization of the Turkish Cypriots once more.
He said that the time for an
agreement in Cyprus has come and claimed that the Turkish Cypriot side is ready
for “a new partnership”, which will have a bi-communal, bi-zonal federal
structure based on political equality. Eroglu said that the “partnership state”
which will be established, will be formed by two “founding states” of equal
status and will have one seat at the United Nations, one identity in the
international arena and a single citizenship. At the same time, he argued, the
founding states will be able to “act sovereignly” and will have the right to
grant “internal citizenship”. He added that Turkey’s “active and effective
guarantees” are an indispensable condition for the Turkish Cypriots.
Cyprus Football Association and Cyprus Turkish Football Association sign landmark arrangement
A major milestone
in the history of Cypriot football was reached at FIFA headquarters in Zurich
today with the signing of a provisional arrangement for the organisation of
football in Cyprus, between the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) and the
Cyprus Turkish Football Association (CTFA).
Under the
arrangement, the CTFA becomes an associate member of the CFA in accordance with
the CFA’s statutes and regulations. Furthermore, the CFA will continue to be a
member of FIFA and UEFA as well as the governing body responsible for
organising, servicing and administering football in Cyprus. Both parties agreed on the setting up of a steering
committee to work towards implementing the arrangement.
The arrangement,
which is based on the FIFA and UEFA statutes and only concerns football-related
matters, aims to unify and facilitate the progress of football within the
football communities on the island through a relationship based on trust,
mutual respect and goodwill.
“Both the Cyprus
Football Association and the Cyprus Turkish Football Association are today
providing the whole world with an excellent example of how football can build
bridges and bring people together after a long period of conflict,” said FIFA
President Sepp Blatter.
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