Acini’s action to raise the issue of UNFICYP was misguided, thoughtless and wrong

AKEL on Acini’s letter to the UNSG

Statement by the AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou,

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 17 July 2018, Nicosia

At the time when the visit of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General Jane Lutt is expected in Cyprus, the action by the Turkish Cypriot leader Mr. Akinci to raise the issue of the UN Peacekeeping Forces in Cyprus (UNFICYP) to the UN Secretary-General was misguided, thoughtless and wrong. When the international community is taking action for the negotiations to resume, issues that detract from this prospect and which do not take into account the sensitivities of the other side can’t be raised.

In view of the intention of the UN Secretary-General to undertake take a new initiative for a resumption of the negotiations, it is important that the two leaders – and of course Turkey – respond without asterisks and footnotes to what Mir Guterres calls for.

And what the UN Secretary-General is calling for is a resumption of negotiations from the point where they had been suspended, making use of the body of work of the negotiations and following the same procedure as the one implemented at Crans Montana.