President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman jointly attended the annual bicommunal festival in the Larnaca district village of Pyla on Saturday evening, with the former declaring upon his arrival at the event that “we are sending a message of peace”.
“We are sending a message of … coexistence and a message regarding the need to finally reunify our homeland. I reiterate what I said in a recent interview with the Turkish Cypriot press: if it were up to the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots, out homeland would certainly be reunified,” he said.
However, he said, this position “does not negate our responsibilities” to find a solution.
“That is why I am here, to send a strong message, so that we may work together to reunify our homeland. For us, and I mean this in the full sense of the term, there is no other option but the reunification of our homeland,” he said.
Asked whether his and Erhurman’s joint attendance at events such as that held in Pyla, a village in the buffer zone which splits the island’s two sides which is one of few on the island to have retained both its native Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities, he answered in the negative.
“They are not sufficient, but they are significant. It is an important step, and I would like to welcome the initiative to hold this event and the invitation extended. While it is an important step, such meetings alone are not enough,” he said.
He added that “what can truly unlock the entire effort and lead to a positive outcome is political will”, and that “everything depends on that”.
Then asked whether joint appearances with Erhurman at festivals and other events may become a “common occurrence”, he said that “we are in favour of establishing this as a regular practice”, and that “this is why I am here”.
“If I recall correctly, this is the sixth such festival. It is significant that it is taking place again after a six-year hiatus. We consider this as an institution which should continue,” he said.
In addition to attending Saturday evening’s festival, the two leaders are set to jointly attend forthcoming meetings of the bicommunal technical committee on cultural heritage, the bicommunal technical committee on youth, and the steering committee on the civil society consultative body.
