The 23rd Congress of AKEL, which convened in Nicosia 2-4th July 2021, addresses a call to all the Cypriot people, regardless of their communal origin, for cooperation and common struggle for the liberation and reunification of our homeland and people. The commonly accepted conclusion that the period immediately ahead will determine the course of the Cyprus problem and our intensified concern about the danger of the definitive partition of Cyprus, render our immediate and dynamic reaction imperative.

Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins,

Fellow compatriots,

1. The failure of the Crans Montana Conference on Cyprus in the summer of 2017 was followed by a period of prolonged negotiation deadlock. The short distance that remained to be covered for that Conference to reach a strategic agreement with the prospect of reaching a comprehensive solution in sight, was transformed in the years that followed into a huge distance.
2. The main responsibility for the decades-long failure to find a solution to the Cyprus problem lies with the occupying power Turkey, which continues to flagrantly violate the independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus. In the absence of a meaningful dialogue, Turkey has continued to proceed to illegal activities in the territorial waters and delimitated Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Cyprus and to escalate its illegal colonisation of Varosha.
   Meanwhile, the assumption by the advocate for partition Ersin Tatar of the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community has facilitated these machinations. At the same time, President Anastasiades’ erroneous handlings and his failure to convince the UN Secretary General that he had the political will to go all the way at Crans Montana has permitted Turkey’ being relieved of responsibilities by the international community. A fact that, among other things, gave Ankara the pretext to proceed from 2017 until today to create new and extremely dangerous fait accompli without any substantial cost.
3. The constant cultivation of illusions on how the Anastasiades government will confront Turkey’s illegal actions and its disconnection from the course of the Cyprus problem has further exposed the incompetence of the Presidency-DISY in the handling of the Cyprus problem. They didn’t take into account the historical experience that shows that the worst fait accompli took place in periods when there is an absence of negotiations, as is unfortunately being confirmed today too.
4. The absence of a meaningful dialogue, the ongoing regressions and questioning of the negotiation acquis that had been formulated up to the end of the Conference on Cyprus, as well as the promotion of “new ideas” that annul existing convergences recorded, have trapped the prospect of resuming a meaningful dialogue. The UN Secretary General and the international community have continued to dispute the readiness of the parties to engage in a substantive dialogue. At the same time, Turkey engaged in an effort to question the agreed framework for a solution by putting forth the unacceptable position for a two state solution.
5. President Anastasiades’ lack of political will to formulate and serve in a convincing manner a strategy seeking the resumption of negotiations from where they had remained in 2017, as he declares he is seeking, was strongly expressed through the attempt to undermine the comprehensive proposal submitted by AKEL in December 2020. The first part of AKEL’s proposal concerned the resumption of the negotiation procedure and the second was about providing incentives to the Turkish Cypriot community and Turkey – without crossing the Greek Cypriot community’s ‘red lines’ – to either cooperate in this direction or to be exposed.
6. Under the conditions that have evolved, the informal Geneva conference last April had no chance of success. The main reason was the unacceptable position submitted formally by Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leader for a two state solution. However, neither did Anastasiades convince of his readiness to continue from where we had remained in 2017, as the self-evident rejection of the Turkish position was not accompanied by any convincing counter-proposal. As a result, there appears to be an immediate danger of a deviation from the agreed basis of negotiation and the solution of the Cyprus problem.
7. AKEL, without self-vindicating syndromes and with the interests of the country and the Cypriot people as a whole solely at heart, considers that the developments on the Cyprus problem confirm the correctness of the positions it has publicly expressed, as well as the proposals it has submitted to the President of the Republic from time to time. To prevent the derailing of the Cyprus problem, the creation of new dangerous fait accompli and the final partition, substantive negotiations with a view to reaching a successful outcome must be resumed immediately. For this to occur, however, the only option before us is to resume them from where they had remained during the Crans Montana talks, that is to say on the basis of the 2014 Joint Declaration, the Guterres Framework of 30th June 2017 and the acquis of the convergences that had been agreed, whilst any bridging proposals must only concern pending issues.
8. AKEL, relying on its long history, its patriotic historical path of struggle and drawing strength from the sovereign people who wish and is entitled to prosper in a free homeland, will continue to struggle against the partitionist status quo and any ulterior scheming for the future of our homeland and people. We will intensify our efforts so that in this crucial period for the course of the Cyprus problem, the forces supporting the solution in both communities should stand as a barrier to any dangerous machinations both from outside, but also inside Cyprus. Uncompromisingly and tirelessly, with consistency to the agreed framework of bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality and based on the principles that must govern the solution of the Cyprus problem, we will continue to be at the forefront of daily actions for a peaceful and truly hopeful future.