Roberta Metsola, the recently elected President of the European Parliament, has reiterated the body’s “full solidarity” with Cyprus in a letter to Dr Vassilis Mavrou, President of the Famagusta Association of Great Britain.
In the letter, seen by the Cyprus News Agency, Metsola has also reiterated the EP’s position regarding the reunification of Cyprus: it supports a fair, comprehensive and viable settlement on the basis of a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with a single international legal personality, single sovereignty and single citizenship and with political equality between the two communities.
“We firmly believe that the sustainable resolution of the Cyprus issue would benefit all countries in the region and reiterate our call on Turkey to commit and contribute to a comprehensive settlement in line with the relevant UNSC resolutions. The EP regrets that the highest Turkish authorities have endorsed the two-state solution for political and nationalistic purposes and urges the Government of Turkey to commit to the UN Secretary-General’s call for renewed negotiations in concrete terms,” her letter reads.
Roberta Metsola has also pointed to the European Parliament’s condemnation of Turkey’s activities in Varosha and the warning that its partial “opening” weakens prospects of a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem, exacerbating divisions and entrenching the permanent partition of the island.
“The EP called on Turkey to transfer Varosha to its lawful inhabitants under the temporary administration of the UN, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 550 (1984), and to refrain from any actions that alter the demographic balance on the island through a policy of illegal settlement,” she has added.
The European Parliament President was responding to a congratulatory letter by Dr Mavrou on her election, in which he was also calling for a continuation and intensification of efforts to bring justice to Cyprus.
Source: Cyprus News Agency