Outgoing President’s statement ον the Exclusive Economic Zone unacceptable and extremely dangerous
Written statement by Toumazos Tsielepis, AKEL Political Bureau member and Head of Cyprus Problem Office of the C.C. of AKEL
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 3rd January 2017, Nicosia
The outgoing President’s statement with regards the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on 2nd January is both unacceptable and extremely dangerous for the Republic of Cyprus. More specifically, he stated that “If Turkey chooses to protect the rights of the Turkish Cypriots in a separate independent entity, then it has to limit this protection to the rights attributable in the EEZ of this illegal entity and therefore it has no reason to question the Republic of Cyprus’ sovereign rights”.
In the aforementioned statement, two huge mistakes have been committed:
First, it is incomprehensible for the President of the Republic himself to be accepting that the rights of the Turkish Cypriot rights can be protected in a separate, independent entity. Both their individual and community rights can be protected effectively only in a united state under a federal roof.
Secondly, the President of the Republic himself cannot be accepting that there is a corresponding EEZ in the illegal entity. The EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus is only one and indivisible and extends across the entire maritime area, both free and occupied. The only relevant issue that remains is the demarcation of the EEZ with Turkey in accordance with the relevant provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, something that is safeguarded by the Christofias – Talat convergence on the maritime zones.
We want to believe that the big mistake committed by Anastasiades does not mean a change of policy from federation to two separate states. We want to believe that the departure of the President from the Crans Montana Conference while the UN Secretary-General, the European Union and Britain were demanding from Turkey that it accepts the termination of the guarantees and any intervention rights from the first day of the solution has nothing whatsoever to do with partitionist orientations. Regardless, however, such positions give Turkey an excuse to continue violating the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus across its entire maritime territory.
