Nicosia: The bicommunal Technical Committee on Youth is the most important of the 13 bicommunal committees for a peaceful future, Cyprus President, Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar said on Monday, during a meeting they had with the members of the Committee, who met for the first time on Monday morning. Christodoulides and Tatar talked with the newly appointed members of the Youth Technical Committee, prior to their own meeting with the Special Representative of the UN General-Secretary in Cyprus, Colin Stewart.
According to Cyprus News Agency, addressing the Committee, Colin Stewart said that the leaders’ presence at the Committee is a very strong sign of their support for it and “for the work that you’ll be doing going forward”. He noted that this is the 13th Technical Committee and the first new Technical Committee in 10 years. He added that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Youth, Peace and Security agenda, a global agenda to empower youth in all aspects of life, social, political, and economic.
“Here in Cyprus, we look forward to you all coming up with some joint initiatives that would reflect and respond to the means, the aspirations, challenges of all Cypriot youth,” he highlighted. President Christodoulides congratulated the members of the Committee for their appointment and thanked “my very good friend Ersin, that after two years, he accepted finally this Technical committee”.
He noted that “for me, this is the most important Technical Committee. We’re trying to solve the Cyprus problem, to shape a peaceful future on this island. You have a responsibility to lead the way. You are the future of Cyprus,” he said. The President added that it’s important to sit together, “because our future, and your future, and the future of your children is going to be peaceful, only if we work together in a united country, member state of the European Union”.
So, he said, this Technical Committee has a very important role to play. “I’m always open to chat with all of you”, to work together for a peaceful reunited country, he said. On his part, Ersin Tatar said that “we are making history today”, adding that “we believe and trust our youth”. He said that we have to be realistic that we have a problem in Cyprus.
“We trust you, as educated youth and as enthusiastic people, who see things how they work in the world, and how we engage these developments,” he said. Tatar noted that it’s very important that we get to know each other and to get to understand each other, so that we can pave the way forward.
He congratulated the members of the Committee and thanked Colin Stewart and “my friend Christodoulides”, saying that “I’m going to ask him to reconsider some of the things that are being done very lately”. Tatar said that “it is our responsibility to build the trust between the two sides, “we have to understand each other. What we talk, what we say and how we move forward will depend on how we can bridge trust between the two communities,” he said.
“If you are going to have a sustainable, reliable, successful future, we have to understand each other more so we can achieve things together,” he added, noting the importance of achieving things and not only talking. “We can become richer. We can create a much more prosperous Cyprus and we can enjoy the qualities of the island if we learn to coexist and understand how to respect each other,” he concluded.
As noted by a UN representative, the aim of the meeting of the Technical Committee was to get to know one another and to get a better understanding of the work of the Technical Committee’s approach. He noted that there is a “great deal of experience, energy and expertise in the room”, since among the members of the Committee there are entrepreneurs, lawyers, researchers, athletes, influencers and doctors, “a dynamic mix of talents and voices. So what we’ve done was pretty much to start laying down a solid foundation for the work of the committee in the weeks and the months to come,” he added.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.