US Vice-President Biden’s visit to Cyprus

Statement of Georgos Louciades, AKEL C.C. Press Spokesperson

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 22nd May 2014, Nicosia

AKEL welcomes US Vice-President Biden’s statement that the US, as with every other country in the world apart from Turkey, does not recognize the pseudo-state as positive. In particular, although the statement confirms the self-evident, at the same time it illustrates that there is no intention on the part of the US to engage in actions to upgrade the pseudo-state through Mr. Biden’s visit to the occupied territories.

As AKEL, we reiterate that the American Vice President’s visit, as well as the upgraded US interest on the Cyprus problem in general, will be judged by the content and results of their overall involvement and intervention.

Because the upgraded American interest is directly connected with Cyprus’ emergence since 2011 on the energy map of Europe and the world, because the US are interested in promoting their own strategic interests in the region, but also because the US have their own heavy responsibility for the creation and perpetuation of the Cyprus problem, AKEL reiterates that the Americans must channel their initiatives towards the solution of the Cyprus problem based on International Law and the United Nations resolutions, encouraging the occupying power Turkey to contribute in a constructive way at the negotiating table.

The present conjuncture, therefore, may on the one hand create opportunities, but at the same time it also creates dangers that we must not underestimate.

In this context, the handling and actions of the Anastasiades government were, and are, of crucial importance. First and foremost, with regards the maintaining of a multidimensional foreign policy which should actively involve all the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and in particular Cyprus’ traditional friends and allies. Respectively, this also concerns the government’s handling on the Cyprus problem at the negotiating table, which must remain far from the inconsistent adventurism we witnessed in the period before the conclusion of the joint communiqué. The government’s handling of the need for the vigorous promotion of the planning and infrastructures for the exploitation of natural gas are also important; a handling of the issue characterised by unjustifiable delay.

The Anastasiades government is also called upon to defend the interests of the Republic of Cyprus in relation to the other key issue of the Biden’s visit, namely the tragic developments in Ukraine. This means in practice that we must not under any circumstances drift into policies that will reverse balances and endanger our relations with a steadfast ally of Cyprus with regards our national problem, as well as causing immense damage to the already affected economy of the country, given that the Russian Federation is the main economic partner of Cyprus.

Consequently, the consistent and militant defence of the interests of Cyprus and our people are achieved neither by issuing celebratory statements serving obvious pre-election expediencies, nor by the a priori demonization of the visit and in general of the engagement of the American factor.