His first step as president in 1988 was to ditch the “talks with preconditions” policy of the man he ousted, Spyros Kyprianou. Vassiliou’s stance forced Denktash back to the table.

GV: In the course of my presidency but also during ensuing stages, Diko and the Centre Union, i.e. Spyros Kyprianou and ... Tassos Papadopoulos admitted to Vassiliou that the Annan plan would ...