AKEL remains opposed to the convening of a five-party conference on the Cyprus problem
16th May 2016, “ASTRA” radio station
On behalf of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou during the morning radio program of “Astra” commented on the joint declaration of President Nicos Anastasiades and the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci on the course of the Cyprus problem.
AKEL disagrees with the convening of a four or five-party conference on the Cyprus problem as proposed by Mustafa Akinci Stefanos Stefanou, member of the Political Bureau of AKEL and Nicosia-Kyrenia District Secretary, pointed out to “Astra”.
AKEL’s long-standing position, he said, is that an international conference under the auspices of the UN must be convened with the participation of the Republic of Cyprus as well, which will deal with the issues of guarantees and security. A prerequisite for this to happen, he noted, is the existence of an agreement between the two sides on the issues of internal governance
Regarding the Anastasiades-Akinci joint declaration, Stefanos Stefanou said that AKEL considers it as a commitment to continue the effort to achieve a correct solution of the Cyprus problem which will end the occupation within the framework of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal solution. Moreover, Stefanou added. AKEL considers that there has been progress in the negotiations as a result of the utilization of the Christofias – Talat convergences, a fact which he said confirms the correctness of AKEL’s policy. He recalled that initially Mr. Anastasiades refused to adopt the Christofias – Talat convergences which resulted in the loss of precious time, while in Anastasiades’ own joint communiqué the reference to an indivisible sovereignty was lost.
The member of the Political Bureau of AKEL declared that the position of the “Citizens Alliance” party in favor of abandoning a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation leads the discarding of both the UN resolutions, but also the international community’s commitment to a solution of the Cyprus problem within the framework of this specific solution.
