Greek & Turkish Cypriots will have to jointly face water issue

Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots will have to jointly face the problem of water shortage on the island when the Cyprus problem is solved, Cypriot President Demetris Christofias has said.
Invited to comment on a press report according to which during the ongoing negotiations for a Cyprus solution the issue of transporting water from Turkey was addressed, President Christofias said that the issue was not raised officially at the negotiations by Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.
In statements Monday before departing for Strasbourg, where he will address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, President Christofias noted that the construction of a pipeline from Turkey to Cyprus is not an easy project to realise.
“This is an issue we will have to deal with in the course of time. Constructing a pipeline for transporting water is not such an easy attempt as it seems in theory. Five or ten years may be needed to build the pipeline”, he said.
President Christofias expressed the wish that ''until then the Cyprus issue will be solved and that together with the Turkish Cypriot community we will deal with the issue”.