Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades expressed on Tuesday gratitude for the Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menendez’s long-standing principled positions, on issues related to humans right and the international law.
Menendez said on Monday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan should stop all overflights in Greece and withdraw all Turkish soldiers from Cyprus and that the US need to hold Erdogan accountable for his behavior when he violates international laws. Moreover, he noted that the US should not put F-16 fighter jets in Erdogan’s hands.
Invited to comment on Menendez’s statements, Anastasiades noted the dominant position which the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee plays on foreign policy issues.
“I welcome, I thank and I express my gratitude over Senator Menendez’s long-standing principled positions on issues related to human rights and the international law which do not refrain from pointing to the violations of these principles on the part of Turkey against both Cyprus and Greece and generally Turkey’s behaviour,” Anastasiades said.
To a remark by a journalist that Menendez is trying to prevent efforts made by the US administration and President Joe Biden and asked whether there should be an intervention towards Washington, Anastasiades said that the necessary interventions are being made and we need to say no more.
“Our actions are coordinated. They are aligned so that apart from being expressed by US officials they are also directed towards the US administration by stakeholders who have an impact,” he added.
Anastasiades also noted his particular relation with Joe Biden and the latter’s interest in the Cyprus problem as well as the significant improvement of the relations between Cyprus and the US “which form a strategic partnership.”
Invited to comment on the fact that a Greek Cypriot was not allowed to submit her candidacy for local “elections” in the Turkish-occupied Kormakitis village, Anastasiades noted that the intransigence and the mentality prevailing in some circles in Ankara are dictated in the occupied part of Cyprus by their local puppets.
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