We shall do everything in our power to break the deadlock on the Cyprus problem

 

3 November 2023

Statement by the General Secretary of AKEL, S.Stefanou, after the service at the Church of St. George in the Maronite village of Kormakitis [in the occupied territories]

“The passage of time without a solution moves us further away from the solution. We sense this feeling very much as we do not want neither to hand over our occupied territories to the occupation, nor to accept the ceasefire line, the line dividing Cyprus and our people because this state of affairs poses many dangers for our homeland and people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots alike.

It is for this reason that we must remain committed, focused on the effort to resolve the Cyprus problem, continuing [the talks] from where they had remained in 2017, preserving what we have agreed up to Crans-Montana and trying to complete the effort to resolve the Cyprus problem, to reunite our country and people, with the resumption of the negotiations. Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins can once again be masters in our own free land, without any lines of division and occupation troops.

We must remain steadfast on this goal, and we will remain committed. We must do everything in our power to be able to break the deadlock [surrounding the Cyprus problem]. I know we all feel a lot of pessimism as we face a Turkey and a Turkish Cypriot leadership under Tatar that is very negative, but we must not abandon the effort.

We have to continue the effort, to do everything in our power to break the deadlock and get back to the negotiations.

My presence here and that of the leading members of AKEL here is precisely to convey the message that we will continue this effort to achieve a solution.”