Anastasiades must at long last give clear answers to the UN Secretary-General and the Cypriot people

Statement by Eleni Mavrou, AKEL political Bureau member

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 23 June 2018, Nicosia

Tomorrow, early parliamentary and presidential elections are taking place in Turkey; elections that are decisive for the course of the country and – naturally – for the course of the Cyprus problem as well.

After the elections in Turkey, the United Nations Secretary-General’s envoy is expected to be sent to the region to ascertain whether or not the conditions for a resumption of the negotiation process are ripe.

In the face of this possibility, there is no room whatsoever for mincing one’s words.

What we have to do has been repeatedly and very clearly outlined by the UN Secretary-General himself: an essential prerequisite for resuming the negotiation process is the continuation of the dialogue from where it had left off, on the basis of the framework of 30th June, aiming at reaching a strategic agreement to pave the way for a comprehensive solution. The Secretary-General indeed calls on the two leaders to regain the sense of urgency, restore the lost trust and send out clear messages of political will.

How is this goal served when the President of the Republic declares, on the one hand, that “reunification is not an option, but the only way forward” and the day after letting it be understood that, in due course, we must even consider a solution of two independent states instead of bizonal, bicommunal federation?

Mr. Anastasiades must at long last give very clear answers both to the UN Secretary-General, as well as to the Cypriot people.