AKEL on the latest Report of the UN Secretary General
Statement by Stefanos Stefanou, AKEL C.C. Spokesperson
AKEL C.C. Press Office, Saturday 9th July 2016, Nicosia
As the negotiation procedure on the Cyprus problem is in progress, it was to be expected that the Report of the Secretary General of the United Nations to the Security Council regarding his good offices would be more procedural in nature and would not include surprises.
In the Report previous references such as to the Turkish Government’s responsibility for the violation of the status quo in Strovilia, as well as for the status quo in Varosha and others are reiterated. We note the reference to the recent Solea fire and in particular to the reference that both Akinci and Turkey offered to help, which however was not possible and so the opportunity for a joint effort was lost. The Secretary General condemns the incidents against Turkish Cypriots, as well as the vandalism against the mosque in Denia village, underlining that no arrests were made in all cases and that such acts must not go unpunished.
The UN Secretary General expressed concern about the fact that there is a lack of progress in the implementation of agreed Confidence Building Measures, such as on mobile phone interoperability, inter-connectivity of electricity grids and the opening of check points in Apliki and Deryneia.
The most important aspect of the Report is that the Secretary General, utilizing the joint statement of the two leaders to seek a solution in 2016, calls on them to redouble their efforts in this direction. On this occasion AKEL stresses once again that our goal must be the solution of the Cyprus problem as soon as possible, but to make this possible it is an essential prerequisite that everyone should remain committed to the principles and the agreed framework of the solution.
The next few months will determine the fate of the current negotiation procedure. The duty of the President of the Republic and all political forces is to do everything that depends on us not to see this effort fail too and to keep the hope for a solution alive, always based of course on principles and the agreed framework.
