Cyprus president: disastrous to perpetuate partition

Cypriot President Demetris Christofias, who leads the Greek Cypriot community, appealed on Tuesday for reconciliation with the Turkish Cypriots, saying permanent partition would be disastrous for the island.
Christofias started reunification talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat on Sept. 3, hoping to end a division that troubles relations within NATO and jeopardises Turkey's hopes of joining the European Union.
"The dialogue we started is a difficult process, and it is not strewn with roses," Christofias said in a state address marking 48 years of independence from Britain on Oct. 1.
"A non-solution is not a solution. Partition is tantamount to disaster," Christofias said.
A settlement of the Mediterranean island's problem has defied an army of peacemakers.
The seeds of conflict were sown when intercommunal clashes broke out shortly after independence from Britain in 1960, and a brief Greek-inspired coup in 1974 triggered a Turkish invasion that divided the island in two.
Under a convuluted independence treaty Greece, Turkey and Britain guarantee Cypriot sovereignty and have intervention rights.
The Cypriot government nominally represents the whole island in the European Union, but its control in practice stops at a U.N.-controlled ceasefire line. Northern Cyprus is a breakaway state recognised only by Ankara.
In a speech to the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe earlier on Tuesday, Christofias said he wanted the two sides to abolish their separate annual military exercises which have in the past stoked tension on the island.
"Cyprus belongs to all Cypriots. It is time to draw from the bitter experience of the past, shake hands and act like Cypriots," he said.
Christofias jumpstarted the stalled peace process this year soon after his victory in Greek Cypriot presidential elections. Peace talks had been in limbo since Greek Cypriots rejected a United Nations reunification blueprint in 2004.
The two sides hold the next round of talks on Oct. 10. Although both have agreed on reunification based on a bizonal bicommunal federation, there are deep-rooted differences on how it will work