Ankara’s policy is depicted on a daily basis with unspeakable actions and unfounded provocative statements that it will not honour the agreed framework that will lead through dialogue to a fair and viable solution and reunite the island, Defence Minister Charalambos Petrides said on Sunday.
On the contrary, he added, it remains adamantly fixed on an extreme solution approach that has nothing to do with the agreed framework and the Security Council resolutions. At the same time he appealed to the international community to exert pressure on Turkey for de-escalation.
In a memorial service for those who fell at Neapolis in the Turkish occupied Nicosia district, Petrides said the conditions which Turkey is putting forward for a two-state solution as a precondition to return to the negotiating table, torpedoes every effort to resume the procedure and makes any prospect for a solution non feasible.
He said that despite Turkey’s negative attitude and its aggressive stance towards Greece and Cyprus, “we have no other alternative but to defend the rights of our people internationally.”
He urged foreign countries to exert their influence on Turkey in the hope that it will understand and accept that the de-escalation of tension and securing peace and cooperation among eastern Mediterranean countries is to her benefit.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory.
Source: Cyprus News Agency