All the efforts of Cyprus President, Nikos Christodoulides, are focused on the liberation and reunification of Cyprus, in order to break the impasse that has arisen and to create the conditions that will allow the resumption of talks, Defence Minister, Michalis Giorgallas, said on Sunday.
He was addressing a memorial service at the village of Houlou, Pafos district.
Giorgallas said that the President of the Republic “seeks to achieve the resumption of an honest dialogue, without unnecessary communication games, blame games, non-existent and provocative claims and actions that undermine the entire effort and process and aim to create new faits accomplis”. We seek, he said, a just, viable and functional solution, a solution that will free our homeland and allow our people to live in conditions of security and prosperity.
He also added, among other things, that the “solution of two independent states” proposed by Turkey is under no circumstances an option for Greek Cypriots. On the contrary, he continued, the effort to impose a slow and silent division threatens to destroy any convergence of views and positions that exists, endangering the very foundations of the entire process.
Despite any problems and Turkey’s unacceptable claims in the Cyprus issue, we are asking for an enhanced involvement of the EU and will continue to try, to make our homeland a free state, in which peace and justice will prevail with the same determination and the same strong will, he noted.
In another memorial service on Saturday, in Nicosia district, Giorgallas assured that President Christodoulides’ priorities are the resumption of talks on the Cyprus issue and the issue of the missing.
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