The political forces have no information whatsoever about the letter

AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou on Anastasiades’ letter for a resumption of talks

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 28 June 2019, Nicosia

The Anastasiades government has made a habit of avoiding discussions on serious issues, and particularly with regards the Cyprus problem, by converting debates into journalistic reports, leaks and the issuing its own statements and press releases without briefing the political forces in any way. This is the worst form of non-transparency.

This time, the government is issuing public statements about a letter that was sent 15 days ago to the UN Secretary-General and for whom the political forces have no information whatsoever about.

The issue of the resumption of the negotiations is extremely crucial and until now the President has not handled it correctly. That is why we, as AKEL, are asking to be informed of the letter’s content. We want to know how the President of the Republic approached the issue of the resumption of the negotiations in his letter.

As AKEL, we have expressed our position quite clearly at the National Council session on the continuation of negotiations.

It is imperative that the government reiterate the Greek Cypriot side’s readiness for a resumption of the dialogue from where it had remained at Crans Montana and on the basis of the Guterres’ Framework, as the Secretary General himself has asked without any other terms and preconditions being set.

It is imperative that the government reaffirms the Christofias-Talat agreements on the issue of natural resources and the allocation of the revenues and, of course, all the above, on the precondition that Turkey’s provocative actions in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus are terminated.

We await to be briefed officially from the President of the Republic.