Anastasiades: Decentralized government best for peace

The president of Cyprus took to the airwaves on Tuesday to defend his proposal for a more decentralized federal government he contended would function better if a reunification deal is reached with the ethnically divided nation's breakaway Turkish Cypriots.

President Nicos Anastasiades said that giving more authority to the island's Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot zones would reduce deadlocks in decision-making at the federal level and make a peace accord more successful.

Anastasiades didn't specify which responsibilities would be deferred to the zones, but said during a televised news conference that any decentralization wouldn't compromise Cyprus's territorial integrity, sovereignty, security or economy.

He said granting more power to either zone to decide on issues of "direct concern" would ease Turkish Cypriot concerns of domination by the majority...