AKEL – United Cyprus Party call on the two leaders to take initiatives for resumption of talks
12 March 2018, “HARAVGI” newspaper
The General Secretary of AKEL Andros Kyprianou and the General Secretary of the United Cyprus Party (BKP) Izzet Izcan addressed together an appeal to both the President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades and the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to resume the talks immediately based on the framework tabled by the United Nations Secretary-General A. Gutierrez.
According to Mr. Izcan the two parties agreed that the policy pursued by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, which is based on the issuing of threats and military measures, doesn’t solve problems, but instead complicates matters more and can – as he said – lead to worse situations. He pointed out they must move away from this policy of issuing threats, stressing that the talks must resume immediately from the point they had remained at Crans Montana based on the framework of the UN Secretary-General. Mr. Izcan called on both Anastasiades and Akinci to take an initiative in this direction and avoid getting involved in a blame-game. “They should act calmly, responsibly and prudently,” as he said, “thinking about the interests of all Cypriots.”
In his statements after the meeting of the delegations of the two parties at AKEL’s central offices, the General Secretary of AKEL Andros Kyprianou stated that AKEL has denounced the Turkish provocative actions and aggressiveness, defending the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus to proceed to the fulfillment of its energy program. At the same time, he added that AKEL expresses its great concern about the situation as it is evolving which is compounded by the fact that unfortunately there had been no reaction whatsoever from the international community over the Turkish provocative actions.
The General Secretary of AKEL went on to say that within the framework of the meeting of the two delegations he expressed AKEL’s concern about the developments within the Turkish Cypriot community itself where, besides the military control existing even before and to some degree political control too, Turkish interests are currently buying and acquiring a big section of economic activity. In addition, he pointed out that if matters are allowed to develop as they are doing so today, then there is the possibility of conditions and situations developing that will not only not permit the resumption of substantive negotiations on the Cyprus problem, but will harbor enormous oppression for the future and prospects of both the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in the land of their birth.
The General Secretary of AKEL reiterated that hence the top priority is that initiatives should be undertaken for the de-escalation of the tension in the Exclusive Economic Zone and at the same time with the annulment of the NAVTEX that substantive negotiations resume immediately aiming at the solution of the Cyprus problem as soon as possible.
“There is the agreed framework which we, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, but also the international community have agreed to since 1977. There is the framework which the Secretary-General of the UN himself Antonio Guterres has submitted before the two communities at Crans Montana,” said A. Kyprianou, adding that initiatives need to be undertaken based on all these frameworks for the resumption of substantive negotiations aiming at arriving at an agreement as soon as possible.
“It is all of our patriotic duty to work in a way that ensures that stable and steady peace will prevail in Cyprus and that we – Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins – will live peacefully in the land that gave birth to us all,” noted A. Kyprianou. In conclusion, General Secretary of AKEL stated that they have agreed with Izzet Izcan and the delegation of the United Cyprus Party that they will intensify their efforts in this direction.
