AKEL GS on the trilateral meeting

 

The General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL A.Kyprianou replies to journalist’s questions

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 31 Oct 2019, Nicosia

Asked how developments re evolving in view of the upcoming trilateral meeting, the General Secretary of AKEL replied:

First of all, I would like to express our dissatisfaction because we were not briefed about the dispatch of the relevant document prepared by the President (Note: in response to a request by the UN Security Council). I believe the National Council should have been briefed on this specific issue. The second thing I would like to say is that our hope is that this trilateral meeting will manage to reach an agreement on the terms of reference, and that their adoption by the informal conference will be a mere formal procedure, which I wish and hope will follow, because I hear statements that are raising many questions as to whether the informal conference will take place.

The message that we want to convey in all directions is that everyone must realize that we don’t have time at our disposal. Time is running out. If some people think that we will be letting time go by – and this is addressed to all directions, I want to make it clear, I am not referring just to Mr. Anastasiades – I am referring to all directions. If they think they’ll let time go by and after a few years we will then continue the discussion from the point we are today, then they are making a big mistake. The situation is changing dramatically on the ground. The fait accompli are being consolidated and the degree of difficulty in resuming meaningful negotiations and even more so as regards the solution of the Cyprus problem will subsequently be much greater.