THE majority of those who saw President Nicos Anastasiades’ address on Monday on the progress of the settlement talks, believe he has changed his stance due to the presidential elections, and they don’t feel that a solution is near, said the results of survey announced on Friday.

According to the survey carried out by IMR on behalf of Sigmalive, less than half of respondents, or 41 per cent, watched the televised news conference. The survey is based on the response of 500 people from all districts.

Anastasiades proposed discussing security and guarantees first at a new Geneva conference and only if these were agreed would the remaining issues be discussed.

Just over half of those who watched the address, or 53 per cent, said that they were either not quite convinced or not convinced at all by the positions presented by the president.

Almost eight in ten said that they don’t feel that a solution to the Cyprus problem is near, and six in ten said that they feel that the terms of the proposed solution will be worse than those of the 2004 UN ‘Annan plan’.

Most respondents, 68per cent, blame Turkey for the delay in the recommencement of the talks, while almost a quarter said it was the Turkish Cypriot side to blame.

Almost seven in ten found as unacceptable the condition of the Turkish Cypriot side for the suspension of the Republic’s energy plans for them to sit at the negotiation table. More than six in ten said they found unacceptable the Turkish Cypriot side’s demand for everything to be discussed at the table.

More than six in ten also said that Anastasiades should participate in a new Geneva conference, while 57 per cent said that they don’t believe the president has a backup plan in case the talks collapse. More than half, or 52 per cent, said that they trust the handlings of Anastasiades as to the settlement negotiations.

Six in ten believe that Anastasiades has changed his stance due to the upcoming presidential elections in January 2018.

The majority of respondents, more than six in ten, said that they believe that, in the case the talks reach an impasse, negotiations would continue, while 17 per cent said that negotiations would be abandoned and the breakaway regime in the north would be internationally recognised. Twelve per cent said that if the talks collapse, they believe the north would be annexed by Turkey.

As regards the National Council, more than seven in ten said that it has little or nothing to offer.





