The positions of the President of the Republic on the Cyprus problem are contradictory

 

21 June 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

During his press conference yesterday, the President of the Republic failed to convince us that he realises the criticality of the situation in which the Cyprus problem has found itself as a result of the collapse of the conference on Cyprus at Crans Montana. Although he correctly said that he will make use of AKEL’s proposal for measures to support Turkish Cypriots, at the same time we wonder how his positions on natural gas and the Guterres Framework help the efforts for a resumption of the negotiations.

No one has suggested to the President that he put the natural gas issue on the negotiating table. What AKEL is proposing is that he should make use of the natural gas as an incentive for a solution to the Cyprus problem, which is explicitly mentioned in the proposal we have sent him and which the Secretary General of the United Nations himself supports. Mr. Christodoulides’ one-sided insistence on the factor of the European Union ignores the fact that in recent years Turkey’s European perspective has waned.

With regard to the Guterres Framework, the President of the Republic says on the one hand that he wants the talks to continue where they had remained at Crans Montana, whilst on the other hand he rejects provisions of the Framework. This makes him unreliable in the eyes of the international community and beyond.

Indeed, the Guterres Framework in relation to property gives the user the first say, a position that evidently does not meet our aspirations. This, however, is the result of the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which has led to mass recourses, something that AKEL had warned about from the very outset. What the President overlooks is that there are convergences recorded on the property issue that give a specific content to the above general reference. For example, there is a convergence registered that property belongs to the lawful owners and their heirs. This means that those who cannot recover them will be able to choose compensation or exchange. In addition, we must not forget that the users are not only Turkish Cypriots, but thousands of Greek Cypriots too.

The most important provision of the Guterres Framework, which must be safeguarded at all costs, is the speedy withdrawal of all the occupying troops and the termination of the Treaty of Guarantee and intervention rights from day one [of the solution]. The President’s tactics baffle even his most well-intentioned listener. It goes without saying that the President’s selective approach with regards the Guterres Framework also permits the Turkish side to reject everything concerning security and guarantees. As a result, the Framework will be annulled and the commitment for a resumption of the talks from where they had remained will remain purely verbal.

These tactics are identified with the policies that were pursued by the former President, resulting in the longest absence of negotiations in the history of the Cyprus problem since 2017. We hope that the President will proceed to make wiser thoughts soon in a final and meaningful effort to prevent the permanent partition [of Cyprus].