[MGSA-L] Ankara conference on Cyprus

June Samaras june.samaras at gmail.com
Sat Mar 7 18:51:36 PST 2015


Ankara conference on Cyprus boost for civil society

http://cyprus-mail.com/2015/03/07/ankara-conference-on-cyprus-boost-for-civil-society/

A consensus on the need for the two sides to build on the Joint Declaration
of February 11, 2014 and for Greece and Turkey to support and facilitate
the negotiations process for a settlement of the Cyprus problem was the
outcome of the conference ‘Turkey and Cyprus: Regional Peace and
Stability’, held in Ankara.

The conference was organised by the bicommunal
non-governmental-organisation Cyprus Academic Dialogue (CAD) in
collaboration with the Australian High Commission in Nicosia, the Friedrich
Ebert Foundation, the University of Kent Conflict Analysis Research Centre,
the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) and the Australian and British
Embassies in Ankara.

Greek, Turkish and Cypriot politicians, academics and policy makers met to
discuss and exchange their views on the Cyprus problem and the relations
between the main stakeholders.

“It was really a huge event, a massive success. The attendees were from
many influential places,” said CAD’s director of International Relations
Costa Constanti.

The two keynote speakers, the president of the Socialist International
Association and former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, and former
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs and former speaker of parliament,
Hikmet Cetin had shared their experience about the rapprochement process
between Turkey and Greece, CAD said.

Participants also discussed Turkey’s EU accession.

The need to establish a governance mechanism by Cyprus, Turkey and Greece
in the greater eastern Mediterranean focusing on such matters as energy,
transportation, security, water, was also discussed at the conference.

Cypriot academics suggested the introduction of a “piecemeal approach” to
break the current stalemate to reach a Cyprus settlement.

The event attracted the interest of local and international media,
according to CAD.

“We are the first bicommunal group to confront officials in Turkey and have
an open and frank dialogue with a view to making common compromises, reach
a viable solution and a reunification agreement… and results in the
enactment of the February 2014 Joint Declaration and UN Resolutions,”
Constanti said.

“Even Turkish journalists wrote how civil society of Cyprus is the way
forward to peace and reunification,” he added.

CAD, since its establishment in 2009 with the support of the Australian
High Commission, has visited “literally all stakeholders in Cyprus – north
and south, left and right, hardliners, peace builders, NGOs and state
entities garnering the support of every one they have met”, a thing
Constanti said was “very rare”.

-- 
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.samaras at gmail.com
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