AKEL Memorandum to the United Nations

 

14 August 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Today, 14 August, marks 49 years since the beginning of the second phase of the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. An AKEL delegation led by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, Stefanos Stefanou, travelled to the Deryneia check point and delivered the following memorandum to the United Nations:

1. We condemn the continued occupation and division of our country imposed through the force of arms by Turkey in July and August 1974, which took over the baton from the fascist coup d’état of the Greek Junta and EOKA B against President Makarios. Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus and its ongoing occupation of 37% of its territory had and has no basis neither in international law, nor in the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, which did not give the guarantor powers the right to intervene militarily as this is directly contrary to the UN Charter. These developments have confirmed that Turkey’s goal was never to restore the constitutional order in Cyprus, nor to protect the Turkish Cypriots, but instead the partition of Cyprus.
2. We deplore the fact that Turkey has so far refused to comply with Resolutions 550 and 789 of the UN Security Council on Famagusta, which provide for the return of the lawful inhabitants under a UN interim administration before a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem. On the contrary, the occupying power Turkey, disregarding the relevant Resolutions and the repeated appeals issued by the international community, is proceeding with the gradual “opening” of the enclosed city of Famagusta, aiming at the illegal colonalisation of the fenced off area and/or the return of the lawful inhabitants of the area under conditions of military occupation. We call on the UN to act to persuade Turkey to end and reverse its illegal actions in the enclosed city of Famagusta and to comply with the relevant Resolutions of the UN.
3. We point out that a large section of the international community is demonstrating an unacceptable tolerance towards the illegal actions of the occupying power in Cyprus and by following a glaring double standards practice is proceeding to the geopolitical upgrading of Turkey.
4. We reiterate in every direction that the divisive and occupation status quo is unacceptable and dangerous for all the Cypriot people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, and is a permanent source of tension and militarization in the wider region. In contrast, the solution of the Cyprus problem on the agreed basis and framework can safeguard a future of peace and security for all Cypriots, contributing decisively to regional cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean and to the improvement of Greek-Turkish relations.
5. We unequivocally reject the partition of our homeland either through the perpetuation of the status quo or through partitionist/confederal solutions, such as the demands of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership for a two state solution or the recognition of “sovereign equality” and “equal international status”. We call on Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership to abandon the policy of partition and to cooperate for a solution to the Cyprus problem that reunites the island on the basis of the parameters of the UN. We call on the UN to reject and denounce any attempt to reverse the basis of the solution of the Cyprus problem as set out in the relevant Resolutions of the UN.
6. We stress that our goal is the peaceful solution of the Cyprus problem, which provides for the swift withdrawal of all the occupying troops, the immediate abolition of the Treaty of Guarantee and any unilateral intervention rights, the termination of the illegal colonization, the reunification of our territory and people, and the restoration and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Cypriots. We adhere to the agreed basis for a solution of a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as outlined in the relevant UN resolutions, which provides for a single state, with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship.
7. We call for an immediate resumption of the talks on the Cyprus problem, under the auspices of the UN,, from the point where they were suspended at the 2017 Crans Montana Conference, on the basis of the Framework of the UN Secretary General, the implementation mechanism of the solution – which abolishes the Treaty of Guarantee and any intervention rights – and the set of convergences that had been agreed in the negotiations up to the end of the Crans Montana Conference. We call on the Secretary General of the UN to move in precisely this direction in order to revitalise the peace procedure on the Cyprus problem.

14.08.2023