Minister of Defence Michalis Giorgallas has said that despite the difficulties, we have the duty to do our utmost to liberate and reunite our homeland.
“Despite the difficulties, challenges and the negative stance of the other side, we have a duty and obligation to do our utmost with the aim of ending the occupation, liberating and reuniting our homeland”, he stressed in a speech at the national memorial service of the heroes of the Kelokedara community.
He recalled President of the Republic’s speech at the 78th UN General Assembly in New York, who said that the only effective way to address the risk of instability due to the absence of a peace path, is to promote the resumption of the Cyprus negotiations.
In this context, the Minister said, the UN will play a decisive role, as a driving force, initially appointing an envoy for the Cyprus issue, who will investigate and prepare the ground.
Giorgallas noted that the European Union can also contribute to this effort, acting decisively with all means at its disposal, as an organisation that promotes peace, with the aim of restoring legitimacy and human rights in Cyprus.
“For almost half a century now, Cyprus, our homeland, has been experiencing the consequences of the Turkish occupation, the systematic destruction of our properties and culture,” he said.
Turkey, he added, has adopted a revisionist policy and is attempting to create new faits accomplis on the ground, while attempting to impose its policies and ignoring international law and morality.
The Minister of Defence noted that the latest events in Pyla, with the unprovoked, attack against members of the UN peacekeeping force, confirm once again that Ankara stubbornly refuses to respect the agreements that will lead to the process of talks, with the ultimate goal of resolving the Cyprus issue.
On Friday August 18, 2023 men of the occupation regime punched and kicked a group of international peacekeepers who obstructed crews illegally working on a road that would encroach on a U.N. controlled buffer zone.
The attack happened as peacekeepers stood in the way of work crews building a road to connect the Turkish occupied village of Arsos with the mixed Greek Cypriot-Turkish Cypriot village of Pyla, inside the buffer zone.
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