The Greek Cypriots appreciate the contribution of the Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Kotzias, and President Anastasiadis, for their handling of the Geneva conference on the Cyprus issue.
According to a poll by the University of Nicosia for the newspaper "Simerini", Messrs. Kotzias and Anastasiadis received a total of 80% positive opinions, with the attitude of Nikos Anastasiadis being evaluated by 49% as positive and 31% as rather positive, and the attitude of Nikos Kotzias being evaluated as positive by 45% and rather positive by 35%.
This is followed by the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, for whom 24% expressed a positive opinion and 30% rather positive. The attitude of the representatives of the Turkish side is clearly evaluated more negatively by the citizens, as Mustafa Akinci has 17% positive and 23% rather positive opinions, and Mevlüt Tsavousoglu 2% positive and 7% rather positive opinions.
According to the response of the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, regarding the special advisor of the secretary general. of the UN, Espen Aida, his attitude is assessed as rather negative by 30% and as negative by 24%.
After discussions that lasted more than a month, as to whether the conference on Cyprus was five-party, multilateral or had another composition, 27% of citizens did not form an opinion on the issue. Of the remaining 73% who have crystallized views on the issue, 52% believe that the conference was five-party and 21% that it was multilateral.
41% believe that the goals of the Greek Cypriot side in Geneva were achieved to a small extent, while 39% not at all. Only 6% believe that what was settled on Swiss soil was a great success for the Greek Cypriot side.
The poll shows enormous pessimism about finding a compromise formula with Turkey on security and guarantees. The majority demands that the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the island take place, either before the implementation of the Cyprus solution or on the first day of the solution. Also, more than half of the citizens believe that the submission of the Turkish Cypriot map is not progress.
Moreover, 69% of citizens say they would not accept a rotating presidency of any kind.
The survey was conducted by the University of Nicosia between 18 and 19 January 2017. The coverage was nationwide - urban & rural areas - and men and women over the age of 18 were interviewed.
The sample size was 500 people, the sample was selected by random stratified sampling, while the data collection was done by telephone interviews using a structured questionnaire.