AKEL’s proposal on the Cyprus problem is timely and the President should at long last accept to discuss it

 

Statements by the General Secretary of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, after the mass at Agios Georgios Exorinos/”Nestorian” Church in occupied Famagusta

31 October 2021, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

My presence here today at the mass, together with a delegation of the AKEL Famagusta District Committee and AKEL MPs, wants to send some messages. First of all, the message that we do not forget our occupied parts, that we cannot forget our occupied lands and that is precisely why we continue the struggle for the solution of the Cyprus problem, for a solution which will bring the liberation and reunification of our homeland and people. Only through a solution can we recover our occupied parts and that is why we have no right to give up the struggle for a solution.

We know that we are in the midst of a very pessimistic and difficult period. This pessimism is fueled by the prolonged stalemate, the absence of any negotiations and the Turkish side’s provocative, unacceptable and intransigent stand on the Cyprus problem. However, we don’t have any right to allow this pessimism to prevail and to give up hope for a solution.

The Greek Cypriot side must do everything in its power to push things in the direction of a solution. We cannot expect others to do so if we do not ourselves first take concrete initiatives in specific directions so that we exhaust and make use of every possibility that is given to us.

For this reason, we had submitted a specific proposal on the Cyprus problem to the President of the Republic since last December. We believe that this proposal is timely and that the President should finally agree to discuss it in order to see whether we can come to a consensus, which will in the final analysis help us to push things forward.

In a short while we will head towards the enclosed area of Famagusta. The fact that Turkey has begun opening up the enclosed area of Famagusta piece by piece, in violation of the Resolutions and decisions of the UN Security Council, is also an expression of the criticality of the moment. Turkey is exploiting the stalemate to create new and serious deadlocks in order to promote the two state solution.

This should ring a constant alarm bell for us and we must continue to strive for a solution. We do not have much time left, the danger of the permanent partition of Cyprus is visible. We therefore need to continue the effort by undertaking concrete initiatives.