Minister of Foreign Affairs Ioannis Kasoulides said the government will never tire of working to create the conditions and mobility to resume negotiations for a solution to the Cyprus problem.
Addressing the annual event for Famagusta, organised by the Turkish occupied town’s municipality on Saturday, Minister Kasoulides said the only way forward is dialogue, adding there is no alternative that would lead to remapping our national policy. The only choice is a solution of the Cyprus problem based on the UN parameters and urged the Turkish Cypriot leadership to respond to the expectations of its community.
Representing the President of the Republic at the event, Kasoulides said that this year marks 48 years of being uprooted and becoming refugees.
He described Famagusta as a town of light and water, beauty and joy that was abandoned at the mercy of relentless time to ravage.
In his speech, he said he was not present to make promises or exercise criticism or promote pre-election positions or make declarations. However, he said the government is making persistent efforts to save Famagusta and one thing is for sure, “we will never, ever tire of working methodically to create the mobility and preconditions for a resumption of negotiations to resolve the Cyprus problem”.
There is no other way than dialogue, nor any alternative option that could lead to a remapping of our national policy, he added.
Our only option, he said, is a solution to the Cyprus problem according to the UN parameters. «It is the only way for the state to function in an orderly and structured manner, under an evolved institutional framework that will reunite and transform the Republic of Cyprus into a functional framework and will ensure conditions of security and prosperity for all its inhabitants”.
We remain, Kasoulides added, “committed to the efforts to find a viable solution to the Cyprus problem, on the basis of an agreed framework of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, as provided by the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. A solution that will reunite the country and its people, end the occupation and its fait accompli”.
Referring to Turkey’s illegal actions in the fenced off area of Varosha, he said they are “part of a policy to create and consolidate new faits accompli on the ground. These are actions which are against the spirit and the letter of the UNSC resolutions 550 and 789 and all the presidential statements of the SC on Famagusta as raised during the Council’s closed sessions”.
UN Security Council resolution 550 (1984) considers any attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN. UN Security Council resolution 789 (1992) also urges that with a view to the implementation of resolution 550 (1984), the area at present under the control of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus be extended to include Varosha.
The Turkish Cypriot leadership announced in July 2021 a partial lifting of the military status in Varosha. A few months earlier, on October 8, 2020, the Turkish side opened part of the fenced area of Varosha, following an announcement made in Ankara on October 6. The UN Security Council called for the reversal of this course of action, while the UN Secretary General, in his latest report on his mission of good offices in Cyprus, reiterated his concern over developments in the fenced-off area, noting that the position of the UN on Varosha remains unchanged. The EU also expressed grave concern.
The Cypriot FM said the government has welcomed the recent UNSC resolution renewing UNFICYP’s mandate because it repeats all Cyprus resolutions and urges the sides to find a solution based on a bizonal, bicommunal federation, according to the UN framework and condemns the non-reversal of Turkish actions in Varosha.
Noting that Turkey cannot be allowed to continue ignoring international law and implement a double standard policy, he said that in all his contacts in the last seven months he has received support from his interlocutors who have condemned Turkey’s illegal actions.
Kasoulides referred to the package of Confidence Building Measures which the government has promoted in the last few months, noting the measures are generous and bold while their implementation will mutually benefit both communities.
However, he said the package of measures were rejected by the Turkish Cypriot side which insists on a two-state policy, recognition of the sovereign equality status of the Turkish Cypriot community in order for negotiations to resume, “positions which are unacceptable and are contrary to the goal of reunification.
The Cypriot FM said the Turkish Cypriots made counter proposals in a letter to the President of the Republic, and “we will examine these proposals carefully to ascertain if there is mutual will for a dialogue between the two sides”.
Kasoulides further said that what worries the Greek Cypriot side is stability and an impasse. “This is what’s causing disappointment and concern”, he added.
We want our town back, he said, adding “condemnation and UN resolutions and decisions are not enough. We want Famagusta back, we want all our towns and villages back”, the minister said and called on the Turkish Cypriot leadership to respond to the Turkish Cypriots’ expectations, to listen to their voices and not try to alter the secularism and social orientation of the Turkish Cypriots.
We urge the Turkish Cypriot leadership to abandon its irrational and maximalist outbursts for a two-state solution and exhibit the required will to start a dialogue based on the CBMs, the minister concluded.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results.
President Anastasiades conveyed a proposal on Confidence Building Measures through a letter to the Turkish Cypriot leader and the UN, last May, including provisions for the operation of the airport, located in Turkish-occupied Tymbou, under the UN, and the return of legal residents to Varosha, the fenced off part of Famagusta.
The proposed package of measures also provides for European Commission involvement in trade through Famagusta port and the implementation by Ankara of the Additional Protocol, allowing Cypriot-flagged vessels to access ports in Turkey. An escrow account for revenues from hydrocarbon activities, to be accessed by the Turkish Cypriot community is also proposed, provided that Cyprus and Turkey delineate their exclusive economic zones. The Turkish Cypriot side dismissed the package, proposing instead a set of “cooperation proposals” between two “states” in areas such as electricity, renewable energy, water and hydrocarbons.
Source: Cyprus News Agency