High hopes for 2018
“DESPITE all the problems in the world and in Cyprus, we will never forget that every day . . . is an opportunity for a new beginning.” So said President Mustafa Akıncı in a New Year message.
“There is no room for pessimism and efforts will continue in pursuit of a better and beautiful [future],” he said.
He added that 2017 had been “a challenging year for the world”, with conflict claiming many lives in the eastern Mediterranean and further afield.
“Economic disparity and unfair wealth distribution continue to prevail with more than a billion people suffering from hunger and poverty. The pain of these people, of course, will not end with good New Year wishes . . . which is why there is a need for a persistent struggle [to that end]. Instead of having arms races, resources need to be used for good causes . . . global solidarity and joint efforts are inevitable prerequisites to creating a fairer order and a peaceful world.”
Mr Akıncı also spoke of 2017 as having been a year of intensive efforts to find a Cyprus settlement, saying: “We came close to reaching a strategic framework agreement . . . yet all those efforts unfortunately failed to bear fruit.”
He said it was now important “to make realistic plans for the future”, commenting: “It is obvious that from now on, nothing will be the same because there is no way of doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome . . . There will be no chance of reaching a settlement unless the Greek Cypriots acknowledge the political equality of the Turkish Cypriots . . . The era of any non-resultsoriented and open-ended process is over.”
Expressing hope for a “good outcome” from tomorrow’s TRNC general election — while underlining that “as president . . . I do not support any party” — Mr Akıncı said 2018 would be “the year where we will need shared wisdom and cooperation”.
“The consultations and collaboration of political parties represented in Parliament . . . will be crucial . . .
“In parallel with this, it is vitally important to make convincing statements and not to leave any claims of corruption or . . . of huge amounts of money unanswered . . . in order to ensure people have trust in the state.”
He said it was his “greatest wish” to see a political system based on public rather than personal interest, with awareness and responsibility for the protection of nature and historical heritage.
“We need to seek a social structure based on the principles of [Turkish republic founder] Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; secular, democratic pluralism and tolerance prioritising the protection of the Turkish Cypriot identity.
“To this end we need to pay attention to the education system . . . as well as ensuring the norms of democracy and rule of law in the new era . . .
“I also wish a happy New Year to all people — Greek Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians, Latins and other nationalities — sharing the same . . . island.”
In his message to the TRNC people, Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün expressed hope that “last year’s beautiful developments and initiatives” would continue in 2018, and would “bring everyone more prosperous days”.
He pledged to go on “carry[ing] out public-focused policies, with strong ties and cooperation with motherland Turkey, in a bid to bring people a desired level of wealth”.
Parliamentary Speaker Sibel Siber, issuing her own New Year message, said she hoped solutions would be found to some problems faced by Turkish Cypriots, and urged the need to set out “cause and effect relationships” in order to do so.
“We need to learn from our mistakes. If we do that I believe we will have a more beautiful year,” she said, also calling on global leaders to hold “more dialogue to overcome disagreements”, making the world more peaceful.