Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou Turkish Foreign Minister’s statements undermine the efforts to resume negotiations
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 16th September 2019, Nicosia
The new provocative statements by the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu undermine the efforts for a resumption of substantive negotiations. Our own reply to Mr. Cavusoglu is that there is no question of any solution that will not liberate and reunite Cyprus being raised for discussion, nor any idea – new or old – for moving away from the agreed basis of a bi-zonal, bicommunal federal solution with political equality as outlined in the UN Resolutions. If Mr. Cavusoglu, in addition to public statements, raises these demands to the UN Secretary General, then – in contrast to what happened after Crans Montana – Turkey would now find itself clashing with the United Nations.
We are obliged to study and assess the overall picture surrounding the Cyprus problem. The situation is on a really dangerous path. Turkey’s plans for the colonization of the fenced-off city of Famagusta are almost certainly not some flash in the plan, as the government ruling forces were initially stating, but threats that are being set in motion to be implemented.
The illegal Turkish actions in the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone have not ended and worst of all is that they do not encounter the reaction demanded on the part of the international community. At the same time, there is a dangerous negotiating gap on the Cyprus problem, while the prospect of a resumption of substantive talks is at a stalemate. The occupation is being consolidated and the division is continually sliding to an irreversible point.
All of these developments must provoke concern and be the subject of reflection by everyone. Against the backdrop of this dangerous and worrying situation, the Greek Cypriot side must remain steadfastly focused on the efforts for a resumption of negotiations from the point which they had remained before they broke down at Crans Montana on the basis of the 2014 Joint Declaration, the convergences that were recorded and the Framework of the UN Secretary General.
