‘The pain is the same,’ President Nikos Christodoulides said on Wednesday, expressing his condolences on behalf of the state to the families of those who lost their lives last week at Cape Greco and in the shipwreck off Kyrenia.
Addressing members of the Council of Ministers at the start of the Cabinet’s meeting at the Presidential Palace, the President of the Republic referred to the weekend’s two ‘tragic incidents’ one in the free Famagusta area, ‘with the tragic loss of one of our compatriots, and in occupied Kyrenia, with the tragedy of the shipwreck, which claimed many lives’.
‘In human tragedies, in the loss of human life,’ President Christodoulides he said, ‘the pain is the same, and I would like today, before we begin, to express, on behalf of the state and the Republic of Cyprus, my heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones’ of those who lost their lives.
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.