AKEL on the text adopted by the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 23rd April 2021, Nicosia
Pending the final formulation of the resolution on Turkey’s EU Progress Report on the period 2019-2020 by the plenary of the European Parliament on 17th May, AKEL considers that the references contained in the text approved yesterday by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament are positive as far as the Cyprus problem is concerned.
Among other things, the resolution denounces Turkey’s illegal actions in Varosha, calling on Turkey to reverse them and implement the relevant Resolutions of the UN Security Council. It includes a reference to the Turkish violations of the sovereignty and sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus in its Exclusive Economic Zone and calls on Ankara to avoid any unilateral action that could lead to further tensions. At the same time, Turkey is called upon to withdraw its troops from Cyprus, terminate the illegal colonalisation and provide information from its military archives to the Committee on Missing Persons.
The resolution explicitly adopts the agreed framework of the solution of the Cyprus problem, namely bicommunal bizonal federation with political equality, as defined by the relevant Resolutions of the UN Security Council, in accordance with international law and the European acquis, based on the principles on which the EU is founded. It recalls that the state will have a single international personality, a single sovereignty and a single citizenship.
Indeed, expressing regret over Turkey’s position for a two-state solution, the resolution calls on the Turkish government to make a practical commitment to the call issued by the Secretary General of the UN for the resumption of negotiations. More specifically the resolution calls for the resumption of negotiations under the auspices of the UN Secretary General that should aim at the reunification of Cyprus as soon as possible from where they had remained and which should build on what had already been agreed during the procedure of Crans Montana in 2017.
Given that the adoption of this text comes just twenty-four hours before the convening of the informal five-party meeting in Geneva, AKEL believes that the formulations that were adopted with regards the solution of the Cyprus problem on the initiative of the Political Group of the Left and supported by the rapporteur Mr. Sanchez – taken on a special importance.
