Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis stressed that the Cyprus problem constitutes a priority for Greek foreign policy, stressing that Greece will not accept a two-state solution.
Speaking during his programmatic statements in the Hellenic Parliament on Saturday, June 8, Gerapetritis assured that Greece will continue to support the Republic of Cyprus, with the aim of finding a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem, on the basis of the UN resolutions.
“Finding a just, viable and mutually acceptable solution to the Cyprus problem remains a top national priority of our country’s foreign policy,” the Greek Foreign Minister said.
“Greece strongly supports, as its national position, a bi-zonal, bi-communal Cypriot state, which will be fully based on the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. We will not accept any deviation from this”, he noted.
At the same time, he added that it is important for all Cypriot people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, ‘to be free from the Turkish occupation army, the anachronistic system of guarantees and the third parties’ rights to intervene in Cypriot affairs.”
“We are not going to accept any fait accompli on the Cypriot soil’, Gerapetritis stressed.
Greek Foreign Minister also emphasized multilateralism and extroversion of the Greek foreign policy, by highlighting regional cooperation schemes in the Eastern Mediterranean.
In this context, he explained that Greece attaches central importance to the trilateral cooperation scheme with Cyprus and Israel, especially on the energy sector. Moreover, he noted that the participation of the United States in this scheme, under the ‘3+1’ format, could be the basis for a new security architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Numerous UN-led round of negotiations to reunify Cyprus under a federal roof have failed to yield results.
Source: Cyprus News Agency