Italian MP, Piero Fassino, Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the subject of the return of Turkish occupied Famagusta to its lawful inhabitants, is to pay a visit to Cyprus soon.
Fassino, according to an announcement by the House of Representatives, presented a revised draft of his report to the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the PACE, and informed the members of the Committee of his intention for a second working visit to Cyprus soon and to submit for approval his final Report during the work of the next PACE Session, in June 2024.
During a meeting of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, it said, Fassino said that his Report will include, on the one hand, the current state of affairs and the sides’ positions, and, on the other hand, constructive suggestions for possible ways of support from the Council of Europe (CoE), so that the sides return to the negotiating table to resolve the Cyprus problem, including the issue of Famagusta.
In
his statement, Cyprus MP and Committee member, George Loucaides referring to the 50 years since the invasion and the ongoing Turkish occupation of Cyprus and the longest stalemate in the history of Cyprus as regards the settlement talks, ‘pointed out that the classification of Cyprus in the Council of Europe as a frozen conflict, may become a heated one, as the examples of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and Gaza demonstrate’ it said. Loucaides emphasised, it adds, that the talks should resume immediately from where they were interrupted in Crans-Montana with full respect for hat has been achieved so far at the negotiations, on the basis of a bizonal, bicommunal federation, with political equality, as defined in the relevant UN Resolutions.
‘It is important’, the Cypriot MP said, for the Council of Europe to encourage the sides to return to dialogue, but also to condemn actions that are not in line with the relevant UN resolutions.
He also noted that the new faits accomplis, with the opening and the pl
anned settlement of the fenced off area of Famagusta, ‘not only undermine the prospects of the resumption of negotiations, but possibly bury the prospects for the Cyprus problem resolution’.
According to the announcement, the representative of the Turkish Cypriot community to the CoE, Oguzhan Hasipoglu, requested from the Rapporteur to suspend the process of drawing up the final text, a request which was rejected by Fassino.
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. In January, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Columbia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.
Varosha, the fenced off section of the Turkish occupied town of Famagusta,
is often described as a ‘ghost town’.
UN Security Council resolution 550 (1984) considers any attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN. UN Security Council resolution 789 (1992) also urges that with a view to the implementation of resolution 550 (1984), the area at present under the control of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus be extended to include Varosha.
On October 8, 2020, the Turkish side opened part of the fenced area of Varosha, following an announcement made in Ankara on October 6. Then, in July 2021, Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, announced a partial lifting of the military status in Varosha.
Source: Cyprus News Agency