Following today’s meeting between the Republic of Cyprus President Christofias and the Turkish Cypriot Leader Derviş Eroğlu, president told the press that Turkish Cypriot side rejects the possibility of having a population census to determine the real numbers of Turkish settlers who have been given Turkish Cypriot ‘citizenship’.

“We made a very specific proposal – a population census in both communities under the auspices and supervision of the United Nations – under the Population Department of the United Nations,” he added. The UN Secretary General, is willing to proceed in this direction, as we stated in the meeting in Geneva, said President Christofias.

The president made clear that if there is to be any discussion on the topic of citizenship and settlement this has to be done because there is no point in talking about it if we do not know the numbers of Turks from Turkey who have taken the so-called citizenship.

The President said that the issue will be discussed further with the Representative of the Secretary General Mr Downer and will “try to persuade the Turkish Cypriot side”.