Any incident of violence is reprehensible, the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, said on Tuesday, in relation to an incident in Ayia Napa on the weekend, noting that it should not be interpreted as having to do with differences between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

Specifically, when asked by a journalist about an incident where violence was exerted on a Turkish Cypriot woman by Greek Cypriots in Ayia Napa, and his conversation with the leader of the Turkish Cypriots, Ersin Tatar, President Christodoulides said that 'any incident of violence is reprehensible' and welcomed the 'immediate' reaction of the Police.

He also said that his phone call to Tatar was to explain to him, as he said, 'that as far as I have been informed, this is not an incident that has to do with the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriots and so on, and it should not be given such a dimension'.

He noted that, in 2003, the then leader of the Turkish Cypriots, the late Rauf Denktas, allowed a partial lifting of the restrictions with the opening of crossings, considering that in a week or two there would be such incidents between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots 'that would strengthen his own narrative that we can't co-exist'. 'He was proven completely wrong', he added.

Responding to a journalist's comment that there was also an incident at the Ledra Street crossing involving a Turkish national attacking Greek Cypriot police officers, President Christodoulides said that he has been hearing criticism that Tatar did not call him about this incident, and noted that 'we are a State, we are not a pseudo-state. We are an EU Member State, with rule of law and (it is) good for everyone to keep that in mind'.

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. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

Source: Cyprus News Agency