The crucial thing is what the Foreign Minister will convey to the UN Secretary General

 

3 July 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The Foreign Minister’s meeting with the Secretary General of the UN is a development in the right direction, given that it is the UN that will decide whether a new initiative will be taken on the Cyprus problem. Besides, the recent Conclusions of the European Council have also referred to this.

The crucial thing, of course, is what the government and the Greek Cypriot side will say to the UN Secretary General on the Cyprus problem.

If the Foreign Minister repeats what has been said since 2017 and onwards or what President Christodoulides had said at the press conference on the 100 days of his administration, then it will be difficult to change the climate and even more difficult to reverse the negative legacy of unreliability/untrustworthiness that the former President of the Republic left in the international community to the detriment of the Greek Cypriot community.

If the message is conveyed to the UN Secretary General that the Greek Cypriot side is questioning provisions of the Guterres Framework or the convergences that have been recorded so far in the negotiation procedure, then instead of turning the pressure on the Turkish side, which is demanding a two state solution, the responsibilities will be apportioned on both sides or, to put it quite simply, the long-standing absence of any negotiations, which only suits the occupying power Turkey, will continue.

AKEL is of the view that the Foreign Minister must submit to the Secretary General of the UN the Greek Cypriot side’s clear and unequivocal commitment for a resumption of the talks from the point where they were interrupted in 2017 at Crans Montana, on the basis of the Guterres Framework and the entire negotiating acquis (body of work agreed so far) without any footnotes and asterisks.