Cypriots 4 Cyprus (C4C) welcomes the agreement reached between the two Cypriot leaders Demetris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat on a single Cypriot state and citizenship and sees it as a monumental step towards the shared goal of a truly reunified Cyprus.

Establishing the much sought after 'common language' at their meeting in Nicosia on 1 July, the two leaders agreed, in principle, that any settlement would create a single Cypriot state with one common Cypriot citizenship.

C4C sees the breakthrough move as reversing the tragic consequences of division, taking the people of Cyprus beyond the externally imposed Zurich agreement of 1959, where Cypriot nationals were defined constitutionally as belonging to either the 'Greek' or 'Turkish' community. The move reiterates the memorandum of understanding already reached between President Christofias and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown that any Cyprus solution had to be 'by Cypriots, for Cypriots'.

The agreement will be of special significance to the indigenous minorities of Cyprus, the Maronite, Armenian and Latin communities, as well as to newer arrivals to the island, and to all Cypriots whose affinity was, is and always will be, first and foremost, to their common country.