The UK Cypriot community have made their voice heard in calling upon the British government to support efforts for an end to the ongoing Turkish occupation and the reunification of their motherland.
In a picket organised by the Famagusta Association of Great Britain outside Downing Street last Friday, on the occasion of Cyprus’s independence anniversary, the community members reiterated the demand for the occupied town to return to its lawful inhabitants, under the control of the UN as stipulated in relevant Security Council resolutions.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Liz Truss they denounced Turkey’s and the Turkish Cypriot leadership’s actions in occupied Famagusta as a “disgrace” for international law.
They also pointed to what they see as Turkey’s aspiration to occupy the whole of Cyprus, and they criticised the UK for not exercising pressure on Ankara to put an end to the occupation.
The Famagusta Association’s President Dr Vasilis Mavrou said that the UK has to live up to her obligations towards Cyprus, as one of the guarantor powers (along with Greece and Turkey).
At the same time, the Executive Committee of the Board of British Cyprus also penned a letter to Liz Truss on the anniversary of the Cypriot state independence asking for her support against the 48-year long Turkish occupation of the northern part of the island.
“Turkey is aggressively threatening the territorial waters of Cyprus in the east Mediterranean and plans to open the fenced off city of Famagusta which must be under United Nations control, according to the United Nations resolutions.
As a co-signatory of the 1960 Treaties of Establishment and a Guarantor Power, we believe that our adopted motherland, the United Kingdom, will support a fair, workable and permanent solution that will envisage the withdrawal of the Turkish army of occupation and bring peace to a very strategic area. It is important for the UK to stand against violations of human rights and move away from trade, tourism and sale of armaments to a dictator. Cyprus is central to the stability of the Eastern Mediterranean,” read the letter, seen by the Cyprus News Agency.
The signatories urged PM Truss to use her influence “to initiate fresh negotiations, based on international law and United Nations resolutions” and champion a workable solution for a united, European Cyprus, with peace and prosperity for all its people.
Source: Cyprus News Agency