Erdogan’s visit and statements are a flagrant provocation

 

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

Erdogan’s illegal visit to the occupied territories, on the day of the black anniversary of the invasion, was yet another provocation against Cyprus and its people on the part of the occupying power Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership. The fiestas that were organised to advertise the anniversary of the invasion that slaughtered and partitioned our island are pouring salt on the wounds of our homeland. We note the fact that more and more Turkish Cypriots are refusing to participate in these festivities which strongly provoke the feelings of Greek Cypriots.

At the same time, Tayyip Erdogan repeated yesterday the positions that Turkey has been reiterating since 2017. We reiterate that neither the demand for sovereign equality, nor the two states solution that is being asserted by the Erdoğan-Tatar duo can ever be accepted and are out of the question, because they are tantamount to the permanent partition of our homeland and the beginning of a new cycle of insecurity and dangers for all Cypriots.

AKEL stresses that the most effective response to the Turkish side’s demands is the Greek Cypriot side’s own insistence on the agreed basis and framework for a solution of the Cyprus problem, as set out in the Resolutions of the UN, which provides for a solution of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, as well as a convincing commitment for a resumption of the talks from the point where they had remained at Crans Montana in 2017, on the basis of the Guterres Framework and the whole body of work agreed at the negotiating procedure.