Speech by General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou

 

“Turkish Cypriots and the EU – Perspectives for the reunification of Cyprus”

6 December 2023, European Parliament, Brussels

The New Year will mark five whole decades since 1974, which have left a profound mark on our country. If we go back to the bicommunal clashes of 1963-64 then the decades become six. And the de facto division of our country and people is still continuing.

Sixty years of efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem have elapsed without yielding a result. It would be right for someone to wonder whether there really is a hope, whether there is any prospect of achieving a solution after such a long period of de facto partition. The generations that lived a united Cyprus and have memories of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots living together are gradually passing away.

Of course, the need for a solution-reunification does not only stem from the historical fact that Christians and Muslims, Greeks and Turks of Cyprus have lived together for centuries without essential problems. It does not simply derive from the fact that thousands of Cypriots – Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots – are displaced from their homes as refugees in their own homeland.

Nor is it because even today hundreds of families are mourning their beloved ones or looking for for their missing persons, reminding us of our moral duty not for so much blood to be shed, not so much pain to be felt, with so much loss caused by the tragedies we have unfortunately suffered as a country and people.

We want a solution and the reunification of our country because it is necessary to safeguard our future as a people.

The current situation is a source of permanent insecurity, dangers and problems for the Cypriot people, but also for the wider region too. The crime that is being committed right next to us in Gaza proves in the worst possible way that frozen conflicts do not exist indefinitely. They are either resolved or they come back with a vengeance.

In Cyprus, the nightmare of partition is lurking. So does the danger of the Turkish Cypriot community being wiped out by Ankara and the consolidation of the de facto partition.

It is our patriotic duty to work with all our strength to reverse this situation. By achieving an agreed solution that will create conditions of security and stability and reunite our country and people.

For AKEL, has no hesitation whatsoever to declare that: the only solution that offers a real way out is the solution of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality as described in the Resolutions of the UN. Within the framework of this solution, a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship can be guaranteed, as well as human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The Cyprus problem today is at a very critical juncture, perhaps at the most critical stage it has ever been. The collapse of the Crans Montana conference on Cyprus has made the situation much worse. We now owe it to ourselves, when discussing the Cyprus problem, to keep in mind certain important elements of that procedure:

First, the fact that through a Cypriot-owned procedure, we had reached the stage of recording advanced convergences on all the chapters of the Cyprus problem.

Secondly, it is generally acknowledged that at Crans Montana we came very close to concluding a strategic agreement on the core issues, as the Secretary General of the UN himself Antonio Guterres has noted several times. If the procedure had been completed, we would have had a much better chance of arriving at a comprehensive solution.

Thirdly, after the inglorious outcome at Crans Montana, the United Nations for the first time took a positive position as regards the Turkish position, assigning the responsibility exclusively on the leaderships of the two Cypriot communities, a fact which creates additional challenges to the effort we must now undertake.

For six years there has been no negotiation procedure underway. Never before has such a long period of time passed by without any ongoing negotiations. Historical experience has already proven that during periods characterised by an absence of negotiations, new fait accompli are imposed. If one were to take into account what we have already mentioned about the procedure at Crans Montana, one could easily have foreseen that Ankara would proceed to impose new serious fait accompli, without suffering in essence any serious political cost. We have warned about this many times and unfortunately – a thousand times unfortunately – Ankara confirms these warnings.

In the first case, by violating for the first time the status quo on the Famagusta issue. In the second case, by sending Turkish ships to roam and explore within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Cyprus. The climax is the return [of the Turkish side] to the two state solution, to which Turkey and the current Turkish Cypriot leadership under Mr. Tatar have returned to after years.

For us to be able to breach the prolonged deadlock good intentions and the repeated issuing of declarations about our readiness for a resumption of the talks are not enough. The assumption of initiatives, decisive and convincing actions and the formulation of an effective positive agenda are required. In this direction, the promotion of Confidence Building Measures (CBM’S) can have a positive effect.

Of course, the CBM’s cannot and indeed must not replace the overall effort for a solution to the Cyprus problem, but should complement it. In this sense, AKEL is always ready to support the effort to promote CBM’s that help to foster a positive climate and restore the trust between the two communities.

We must, however, take into account, while discussing such measures, to look back in History in order to draw conclusions. Many CBM’s have been tried in the past. Some have achieved their purpose, some have failed.

Experience has shown that in the cases where grandiose measures were put on the table that opened questions about the status of each side, we were subsequently led to a failure. A characteristic example is the debate surrounding Nicosia International Airport and later on the Airport in Tymbou. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the nature and character of these measures are such that they do not lead to a deadlock from the outset.

Bearing this in mind, AKEL proposed to the President of the Republic additional measures that the Republic of Cyprus could unilaterally announce for the benefit of the Turkish Cypriot community.

Among other things, AKEL proposed the establishment of a Turkish Cypriot Affairs Office to deal with matters concerning the Republic of Cyprus’ relations with the Turkish Cypriot community, the establishment of a special telephone line for Turkish-speaking people in emergency services, the extension of the use of the Turkish language in public documents, the enrichment of the list of products and services permitted under the Green Line Regulation, the development of training programmes for Turkish Cypriot producers and traders to comply with the acquis communautaire, the opening of new check points, the support of more bicommunal initiatives and a number of other measures that concern the Turkish Cypriot community in the fields of sport, the mass media, education and health.

We submitted these proposals to the President of the Republic who pledged to study and promote them. So far there has been no action taken on his part. It is our belief that the President must proceed with these measures.

All this certainly does not mean that we are complacent on the aspect of the CBM’s, ignoring the substance of the Cyprus problem. Our primary objective was and remains the solution of the Cyprus problem. We insist on the need for a resumption of the talks from the point where they were interrupted, safeguarding the convergences that have been reached and the negotiating acquis [body of work], without opening up issues that have already been agreed, even more so the issue of the basis for a solution that has been agreed, as Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership are now doing.

What is needed is for such initiatives to be taken which can create momentum to break the deadlock and to hold all the parties involved in the Cyprus problem to account and reveal their intentions. As it is well known, AKEL has submitted a comprehensive proposal on how we can move forward to the President of the Republic to create the momentum for a resumption of the dialogue.

Our proposal includes four main steps:

First, the continued underlining of our consistency and insistence on the agreed basis of the solution, namely bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as outlined in the relevant resolutions of the UN.

Second, the continuation of the negotiations from where they had remained in 2017 on the basis of the Guterres Framework, preserving all the convergences that have been recorded so far.

Thirdly, the formulation of a positive agenda in relation to Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot community, putting the energy issue at its centre, in such a way and with such a content so that it does not become a counter-incentive. The positive agenda cannot be limited to Euro-Turkish issues alone. Pinning all our hopes in the basket of Turkey’s European course is not enough to create the necessary momentum for the resumption of the negotiations. Of course it is an issue that can influence the effort, but it is not enough in itself.

As I have already stated, a key element of the positive agenda must be the energy issues of the region and the Cyprus natural gas.

We already have recorded several positive convergences on the energy chapter which were reached after a great deal of effort in the talks. Convergences which define as a federal competence the maritime zones, natural resources and the distribution of natural gas revenues. These convergences represent a comprehensive framework, which regulates the maritime zones issues as a whole on the basis of international law, the management of the hydrocarbons issue and revenue generation after the solution of the Cyprus problem. It is true, of course, that these convergences resolve the energy issue after the solution of the Cyprus problem, but they do not regulate related issues before the solution.

With the submission of its proposal, AKEL makes use of energy as an incentive even before the solution. Provided that the two sides agree to the discussion based on the Guterres framework and we reach a strategic agreement, this implies that we are counting down for the solution of the Cyprus problem. At this point we can also discuss the issue of the involvement of the Turkish Cypriot community in the issues regarding national gas. After the solution of the Cyprus problem, we can proceed accordingly to consider the scenario of Turkey’s involvement, provided that we have economically viable options before us.

The fourth step of AKEL’s proposal is the announcement and implementation of specific measures to provide support for the Turkish Cypriot community by the Republic of Cyprus. Despite the fact that the President of the Republic of Cyprus stated some time ago that a package of measures had been prepared, so far nothing has been announced.

No one can predict what the Turkish side’s response to this proposal will be. However, we can say with certainty that if the Republic of Cyprus goes ahead and submits it, then it will have demonstrated its readiness to proceed and the political will to take steps, thus putting Turkish intentions to the test.

Time is running out for Cyprus to the detriment of the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots who are experiencing the disastrous results and implications of the de facto partition. To the detriment of the next generations whose future is exposed to dangers.

AKEL is struggling and will continue to struggle consistently and continuously to win the battle for the future of Cyprus, for the future of its people. A future in which Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots will be co-managing and formulating together within the framework of the common bicommunal state.