Aybike Yektaoğlu, • This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Born 1982 in Bochum (Germany). She has completed studies in chemistry in Leipzig (Germany). Working since the beginning of 2012 at a university in Cyprus. She is a member of Republican Turkish Party (CTP) and the Secretary of Foreign Relations in Youth Organization of this party.
» I live in a country that is divided in two and I learned this in my childhood by the history books, which we have been taught in school. As a small child I met Greek Cypriots through the activities of the United Nations and pointed out that we have no differences culturally and are all equal except  the language. After years, I came to Germany to study and lived in a house with Greek Cypriots, and we understood each other very well. If I can live with them in another country, if my people had formerly lived together, why should I live now separately in my own country?

Mass demonstrations have brought people together and the borders opened. This has destroyed the prejudices of my generation and brought people together. I grew up with the Cyprus problem, have experienced the mass demonstrations, and I hope that the children who are born in the future, read the separation only in the history books and go to bi-communal school in the United Cyprus. So that it can become a reality, I am together with German friends. The Germans know it very well to live in a separate country and can understand us very well. It is therefore a pleasure to work together with the German-Cypriot Forum, so that there is a better future for the next generations. "

Pantelis Sophocleous, • This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

»Dear Friends of Cyprus,
the art of growing together consists of seeking and finding what Greeks and Turks have in common, and then promoting and practising this. That does not mean ignoring differences. We have to be frank and honest in dealing with our common history if we are to understand one another better.

We Greeks of Cyprus want to understand the feelings of our Turkish compatriots regarding the events of the years 1963 to 1974. We also want to explain to the Turks of Cyprus our feelings since 1974. We are one people, and as such we belong together. We are looking forward without scepticism to meeting our Turkish compatriots. We have full confidence in them.

Let us build our country together and lead it into the big European family. This is an historic opportunity, and one that we should grasp in order to come closer together.«