| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
NICOSIA : Cyprus communist leader Demetris Christofias took office as president on Thursday vowing to make ending the three-decade-old division of the Mediterranean island his government's top priority.
The 61-year-old year took the oath of office in parliament after unveiling his new cabinet, which is a coalition with two smaller centrist parties which take a less flexible attitude towards reunification talks with the Turkish Cypriots.
But the veteran communist leader insisted: "Solving the Cyprus problem will be the top priority of my government.
"The solution of Cyprus problem is the main reason I took the decision to run for president."
Negotiations with the Turkish Cypriots had gone nowhere under Christofias' centre-right predecessor Tassos Papadopoulos, who led Greek Cypriots in rejecting a UN reunification plan in a 2004 referendum but was roundly defeated in this month's election.
However the two parties which supported Papadopolous in the election both have ministers in the new cabinet Christofias unveiled on Thursday.
EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou whose late father Spiros founded Papdopoulos's party, will serve as foreign minister, the government press office announced.
Bank of Cyprus senior executive Harilaos Stavrakis takes over as finance minister, while the interior ministry portfolio goes to Neoclis Sylikiotis, a former interior minister. MP Costas Papacostas steps in as defence minister.
The Christofias line-up follows horse-trading over the distribution of ministries between the three parties in government.
The 61-year-old Soviet-educated builder's son has agreed to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat to try to end the stalemate.
Christofias, who was parliament speaker, heads AKEL, Cyprus's largest political party which although founded on Marxist-Leninist ideals is considered more socialist than communist in practice.
His election has been welcomed by the international community as a boost for reunification efforts.
Press reports have suggested that as a goodwill gesture a new crossing point over the UN-patrolled buffer zone may be opened in the heart of the walled old city of Nicosia, the world's last divided capital.
The plan has been on hold for the past four years amid rows between Papadopoulos and Talat over Turkish forces deployed in the area of the proposed Ledra Street crossing.
Christofias on Wednesday met with the Nicosia ambassadors of three of the UN Security Council's veto-wielding permanent members China, Russia and the United States.
"I conveyed... my wish to resume the dialogue with the Turkish Cypriots, but also stressed that such a dialogue must not revoke anything the Security Council has approved so far," he said, quoted by state news agency CNA.
Talat on Monday called for rapid talks, a proposal widely supported by the international community.
"The period before us is the period... to resolve the Cyprus problem," Talat said, warning that failure to clinch a lasting settlement could "lead to the permanent division of Cyprus".
But analysts warn against expectations of an early breakthrough.
"The change of government in Nicosia should not be seen as an indication that people have changed their mind in relation to the substance of their 'no' vote in April 2004," said University of Nicosia professor Andreas Theophanous.
"It is unlikely that Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriot leadership will change their policy over Cyprus because there has been a government change in the Republic of Cyprus". - AFP/de
|
