Cypriots must learn to live together if they want a solution, UN says
If there is to be a solution of the Cyprus problem, Cypriots will have to learn to live together on the island again, UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (Unficyp) head, Colin Stewart, said on Thursday, adding that there was more common ground tha
If there is to be a solution of the Cyprus problem, Cypriots will have to learn to live together on the island again, UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (Unficyp) head, Colin Stewart, said on Thursday, adding that there was more common ground than one would think.
Speaking at the 5th Cyprus Forum in Nicosia, the Unficyp chief said that acknowledging that everyone suffered in Cyprus is the first step towards reconciliation.
The second step, Stewart said, was to recognise that there will never be complete agreement on the past.
“But the end result of such interactions is that contrary to the two, non-intersecting and conflicting public narratives, we find that there is actually a lot more common ground than we realise”, he said.
He also described as “encouraging” the news that the leaders of the two communities had reached an agreement with the UN secretary-general to meet informally later this month in New York.
“It is an important first step and we all hope that together they can find a way forward that will ultimately lead to talks to reach a settlement of the Cyprus issue,” he said.
Stewart said, “the stakes are high because time is running out.”
“The divisions on the island continue to grow deeper and, while we can’t say for sure that this is the last chance, at the same time we cannot count on there being other opportunities in the future. So, we’d better make the best of the current fleeting possibility in case it is the last one,” he added.
The UN official referred to the work of the UN in Cyprus and efforts to reach a settlement.
“If we hope for a settlement to the Cyprus issue, one truth remains: Cypriots must learn to live together on the island again, to get beyond ‘us versus them’. And the first step is to increase mutual understanding, something that seems to only grow worse each year,” he said.
Concluding his speech, Stewart said “let this be the year that we reveal the hidden common ground and agree on the way forward for Cyprus.”
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