Cyprus is not divisible for any reason and on any grounds, states Cyprus’ Permanent Representative to the UN
“Cyprus is not divisible for any reason and on any grounds, including those fabricated by Turkey”, Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the UN, Ambassador Andreas Hadjichrysanthou said.
In a letter to the UN Secretary General which he requested to be released as a UN General Assembly document, the Cypriot ambassador said “Cyprus is not divisible for any reason and on any grounds, including those fabricated by a powerful neighbour who wishes that Cyprus did not exist as a State in its own right and only as its puppet state and as a stepping stone to controlling the eastern Mediterranean.”
It is “high time”, he added, that “Turkey stepped aside and allowed Cypriots to reunify their country as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality, as set out in relevant resolutions of the Security Council, instead of trying to turn the Turkish Cypriot community into a strategic tool to control decision-making in a reunited Cyprus under the guise of accusations of a lack of readiness to share power and wealth”.
Hadjichrysanthou’s letter was sent with reference to the letter dated 19 May 2022 from the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General.
Hadjichrysanthou reminded that Cyprus emerged into statehood in 1960 as a unitary State with one people, the Cypriot people, irrespective of ethnic origin. The subsequent portrayal of one of Cyprus’ ethnic communities as a people, in order to feign a separate right of self- determination, is not only legally invalid as ex post facto, it has no basis in historical reality, he remarked.
He went on to add that such a fabrication is nothing more than a political tool, used by the kin state of the ethnic community in question, to invent an excuse for secession, because this is what is dictated by its own strategic interests.
Equally false, he added, is presenting the unilateral withdrawal of Turkish Cypriots from State institutions in 1963 as anything other than a strategic move induced by Turkey in order to seek the partition of Cyprus.
In the letter it is reported that the international community is clear that there is a single State of Cyprus that has a sole legitimate Government that represents the entire country and that exercises sovereignty and legal authority over the entire island, including its territory, airspace and maritime space. The international community has been equally clear that the Turkish aggression against Cyprus and the ongoing occupation of 36 percent of its territory as a result of that aggression has no effect on international legality, the Cypriot diplomat added.
He went on to note that in “the countless prevarications through which the Permanent Representative of Turkey presents a contrived picture of settlement efforts, he nonetheless admits the real reason for the current stalemate, which is none other than his country’s demand for the recognition and legitimization of the secessionist entity it established through the unlawful use of force against Cyprus”. However, Hadjichrysanthou underlined that “the main reason why neither the Crans-Montana conference nor the Annan Plan led to a settlement “is the insistence of Turkey to have a foothold in Cyprus following the settlement, with the sovereignty limitations that this entails”.
Regarding the issue of hydrocarbons mentioned by Turkey in its document, Hadjichrysanthou underlined that the “positions expressed by Turkey clearly manifest its policy of violating Cyprus’ sovereignty and sovereign rights, encroaching on Cyprus’ maritime space, concluding an unlawful “delimitation agreement” with an illegal entity, and using its size and might, instead of international law, as its code of conduct”.
Regarding the Law of the Sea, Ambassador Hadjichrysanthou added that “Turkey refuses to accept the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and customary international law and lays claims over areas where it could not, under any circumstances, be considered an interested party under international law. The maritime zones of Turkey and the rights it has therein cannot exist, or be asserted, if their limits are defined arbitrarily to the detriment of the maritime areas and rights of other States, in utter disregard of international law”.
In addition, the Cypriot diplomat said “these claims have no basis in established rules of international law and have no legal effect” as they have been arbitrarily coined to match the geopolitical ambitions of Turkey and prevent Cyprus from exercising its sovereignty and sovereign rights, including by appropriating entire parts of its maritime zones, obstructing vessels that conduct hydrocarbon exploration in Cyprus’ maritime zones on behalf of its Government, and unlawful exploration by Turkey in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
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. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
Source: Cyprus News Agency