Statement by Stefanos Stefanou, General Secretary of AKEL, following his meeting with Mr. Stephen Doughty, UK Minister of State for Europe and North America

 

19 March 2026, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou met today with Mr. Stephen Doughty, UK Minister of State for Europe and North America. Following the meeting, Stefanos Stefanou issued the following statement:

“We met today with Mr. Stephen Doughty, the UK’s Minister of State for Europe and North America, and naturally, given his presence in Cyprus, we discussed the Cyprus problem first and foremost. We agreed that the current impasse and stagnation are not at all conducive to the prospects of solving the Cyprus problem. We briefed the Deputy Minister on AKEL’s positions in relation to the Cyprus problem, stressing that there is a great need to end the deadlock and continue the negotiations from the point where they were suspended in 2017, safeguarding the negotiating acquis (body of work), the convergences that have been recorded and utilizing the Guterres Framework.

Of course, it is also concerning that the two sides have failed to make significant progress on the issue of the confidence-building measures, a point the UN has also pointed out in various ways regarding the prospect of the Secretary-General taking the initiative to advance efforts and bring about developments on the Cyprus problem. For us, the priority is to determine what initiatives we will undertake as the Greek Cypriot side and, more broadly, as the Republic of Cyprus, so that, to the extent that it is within our power, the preconditions are created for the UN Secretary-General to take initiatives, because the passage of time is not at all helpful for the prospects of resolving the Cyprus problem.

I must also say that we discussed the situation that has arisen in our region due to the ongoing war and we expressed our concern regarding the violation and disregard, in many cases, of International Law and the UN Charter.

A country and a people who rely on international law and the resolutions of the UN to resolve the problem that we face—which is the Cyprus problem, the problem of Turkey’s invasion and occupation—consider the fact that the principles of international law are increasingly being sidelined and violated as particularly significant. We emphasized to the Deputy Minister the importance of respecting international law.

We agreed to stay in touch. We have some thoughts and ideas regarding how initiatives can be undertaken and which initiatives should be undertaken to break the deadlock on  the Cyprus problem.”