Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 10-11-18

Cyprus News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] UNSG CHRISTOFIAS EROGLU MEETING

[02] ARCHBISHOP UNSG LETTER

[03] USA CYPRUS EXHIBITION

[04] CYPRIOT AUTHOR EU PRIZE

[01] UNSG CHRISTOFIAS EROGLU MEETING

President Christofias arrived in New York Wednesday afternoon and made no statements to the press on his arrival at his New York hotel.

According to the latest information from the UN todays talks on Cyprus at the UN headquarters will commence at 2000 Cyprus time (1300 New York time), with a working lunch. The programme is subject to change.

The lunch will be attended by five members from each side, and will not be open to photo or TV coverage. In his welcoming speech, the Secretary General will give the stigma of the talks and then interventions by President Christofias and the Turkish Cypriot leader will follow.

After the lunch, expected to last one and a half hours followed by a half hour break, the Ban-Christofias-Eroglu meeting will commence with the participation of four persons from each side. Television crews and photographers will be allowed to cover the beginning. The meeting is expected to last two hours and at the end, the Secretary-General will make a statement, the content of which will have been agreed on with the leaders.

According to UN sources, the statement will include a reference to the nature of the talks, what has been achieved so far and the steps that will follow.

The meeting on Thursday was called by the UN SG as he prepares to issue his report on Cyprus.

Meanwhile, President Christofias met UN Secretary-Generals Special Adviser on Cyprus Alexander Downer in New York last night, ahead of his meeting with UN chief Ban Ki-moon, where they discussed the agenda of todays meeting with Ban and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.

In his remarks after the meeting, Downer who also met with Eroglu after his one and a half hour meeting with Christofias, said he hoped that todays meeting would be productive and that the negotiations will develop some new momentum.

In statements, Government Spokesman Stephanos Stephanou said that the President is completely ready for the meeting today, based on what was discussed at the informal leaders council in Nicosia last week.

Stephanou said that President Christofias met with Downer and discussed the meeting with the UNSG and Eroglu. It was a continuation of the meetings held in Cyprus. The President is ready for the meeting that will take place based on what we discussed at the informal leaders council, he added.

In his remarks to journalists, Downer said he met with President Christofias and was going to meet Eroglu in preparation for the meeting with the Secretary General today that will begin with a working lunch and a meeting during the course of the afternoon.

We have to see how it goes, Downer said, expressing the hope that it will be a productive meeting and that the negotiations will develop some new momentum.

Downer acknowledged the negotiations have lost momentum and we want them to see if this will help to give them a bit of new momentum.

Replying to a question if there is an agreement on the agenda of todays meeting, Downer said: The Secretary General has a plan for how he wants the meeting to go and I dont think there will be any problem for the two leaders. They will be happy about it.

President Christofias convened with his advisors who accompany him in New York and also attended a dinner hosted in his honour by a delegation of the Cyprus Federation of America.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.

Peace talks began in September 2008 between President Christofias and former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. Talks continue now with Eroglu, who succeeded Talat in April this year.

[02] ARCHBISHOP UNSG LETTER

The letter, dated November 13, asks from the UN SG to demand the withdrawal of all occupation troops from the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, in view of his meeting with the President of the Republic Demetris Christofias and the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.

The Archbishop refers in his letter to UN resolutions, calling upon the occupying power to withdraw its troops and settlers and restore human rights all over Cyprus, and adds that so far, there was no positive response by Turkey.

Concluding his letter, the Archbishop says that a solution in conflict with the principles of the international organization would provoke peoples feeling of justice and would lead the Church to urge for its rejection.

[03] USA CYPRUS EXHIBITION

In his lecture at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, Director of Cypriot Studies at the New York State University at Albany, archaeologist Dr. Stuart Swiny, who carried out archaeological digs and research in Cyprus in the context of studies of the copper age, referred to the history of the various ages that marked ancient times in Cyprus.

Dr. Swiny presented arguments and examples from the exhibits at the exhibition ``Cyprus: Crossroads of Civilisations``, which will be open at the National Museum of Natural History until May 2011, and pointed out the particularities of Cyprus` national identity, which featured through the centuries.

[04] CYPRIOT AUTHOR EU PRIZE

The prize is aimed at young and emerging writers. The 11 winners this year were selected by national juries in Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The prizes will be awarded by Androulla Vassiliou, the Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, together with Doris Pack, Chairwoman of the European Parliament`s Committee on Education and Culture, and Fadila Laanan, Minister for Culture of the French Community of Belgium, representing the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Chronides, the author of The experiment, said in her statement, she always regarded literature as an inner need to communicate her world to others. Literature is a continuous process of opening gates in the core substance of the human mind and soul, inviting the reader to enter and become a part of the writer. The Prize is the key opening the biggest gate she added.

Cyprus News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article