Cyprus's Turkish, Greek workers join forces on May Day to demand reunification

Turkish and Greek Cypriots workers joined forces on May Day on Monday in a call to their leaders for the reunification of their partitioned island country.

In an event organized by left wing trade union-the Pancyprian Federation of Labor (PEO) which represents mostly menial workers, hundreds gathered originally outside the Ministry of Finance to demand less austerity and more measures to the benefit of the lower classes of society.

PEO leader Pambis Kiritsis accused the government of turning Cyprus into a champion among EU countries in austerity.

Nobody was at the ministry to listen to his speech as it was late in the day and May Day is, anyway, a public holiday.

However, the main theme of the trade unionist's speech was a call on the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities to focus on the few remaining issues preventing an agreement to reunify the eastern Mediterranean island.

He said trade unions on both sides of the divided are working together in support of a final drive to end the partition of Cyprus, brought about when Turkish troops occupied its northern part in 1974, in reaction to a coup by the military rulers of Greece at the time.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leaders Mustafa Akinci are meeting on Tuesday in yet another negotiating session, amid press reports about a possible breakthrough.

The workers marched from the Finance Ministry to a check point on the dividing line in the capital Nicosia, where they were joined by their Turkish Cypriots colleagues.

From there they marched to a soccer field in the buffer zone controlled by United Nations peace troops, where they listened to speeches calling for reunification and songs by Turkish and Greek Cypriot singers. Endit