Marina Yiannakoudakis, UK MEP, member of the European Parliament`s High Level Contact Group with the Turkish Cypriot Community, has called on the Cypriots to step in and assist the efforts to reunify Cyprus.

In a statement following a visit of the Contact Group to Cyprus, Yiannakoudakis said that there is a long way to go in the UN-backed settlement talks, but as long the two sides keep talking there is hope.

“However politicians need to take a leaf out of the book of the two communities who are already working together,“ she pointed out. She referred to projects such as the Committee for Missing Persons and the Crisis Management Committee, noting that these “show how well Greek and Turkish Cypriots can work together.“

“Nevertheless, time is running out and the losers will be the Turkish Cypriots. I fear that the Turkish Cypriots will suffer as the minority in their own country not because of the Greek Cypriots but because of the Turkish occupying forces,“ Yiannakoudakis pointed out. “Turkish and Greek Cypriots can live together, it`s the interference of Turkey that has caused the problem,” Yiannakoudakis concluded.