Protests in north Cyprus

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing - Albert Einstein

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Greek and Turkish Cypriots join hands for New York peace demo

GREEK Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot students in New York gathered near the United Nations on Monday to press their demand for the reunification of Cyprus and the peaceful coexistence of the island's two communities.

"We want to express our support for the UN initiative to solve the problem and submit our demands to improve the UN peace plan," Turgut Durduran, a Turkish Cypriot teaching at a university in the Philadelphia area and member of the newly-formed grassroots organisation 'Cyprus Action Network' (CAN) said.

Greek Cypriot Christos Georgiou, a student at Columbia University, said Monday's rally was a protest against Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash and his assertion that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots cannot live together.

Georgiou said CAN wanted to see a federal solution that would satisfy the common and competing interests of all Cypriots, with the demands of Turkish Cypriot NGOs represented in the negotiations. The group also calls for a comprehensive population census in northern Cyprus to establish the citizenship of those living in these areas.

CAN wishes Cyprus to be fully demilitarized as part of the solution plan, including the withdrawal of all Turkish and Greek armies and the dissolution of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot military forces.

Durduran called on Denktash to resign and said it would be difficult to find a political settlement as long as he remained the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community.

CAN is a group of activists outside Cyprus working together to encourage a settlement and to improve human rights conditions on the island.