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President: Still problems at talks

10/05/2017 09:44
Despite the progress achieved, there are still problems at the Cyprus talks, President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades stressed on Tuesday, noting that there should be no unjust solution just for the sake of reaching a solution.

Addressing the 54th conference of the public servants` union PASYDY, President Anastasiades said that despite the progress that was achieved on the Cyprus talks, there are still problems as regards the functionality of the state, the human rights and other issues which do not create the preconditions for stability and prospect in the future but rather create concerns for the viability of the state.

He called upon the Turkish Cypriot leadership, the Turkish Cypriot community and especially Turkey to realize that Greek Cypriots have concerns too.

“Greek Cypriots are victims of the (Turkish) invasion too, they have left their homes, they have lost their properties, they are refugees for 43 years now, they have missing persons, they lost relatives as a result of the invasion, but above all they have the same rights as the rest of the European citizens, rights, which we want our Turkish Cypriot compatriots to enjoy as well”, he stressed.

President Anastasiades underlined that for the sake of a solution there should be no solution that would favor one side and be unjust for the other side.

He also reassured that he would exhaust every effort at the negotiating table for a functional solution and dismissed criticism by the leader of the main opposition party AKEL, Andros Kyprianou, that he envisages his re-election at the upcoming presidential elections next year instead of a solution.

Noting that his actions demonstrate his true intentions for a solution and not for the presidential elections, he recalled the decision he had taken on the 1st of December 2016 when he decided to continue the dialogue despite the possibility of a deadlock.

He also said that he took the decision for a multilateral conference to take place so that finally Turkey’s so called good will for the withdrawal of its occupation forces and the issue of guarantees are tested, with the aim to reach a solution with Cyprus as an independent, sovereign state, member of the EU.

President Anastasiades also pointed out that his determination to reach a solution of the Cyprus problem is evident in a number of other actions he had taken during the meetings in Mont Pelerin, Switzerland late last year.

The Cypriot President stressed that he did not hesitate to respond to the Turkish Cypriots’ concerns - when there would be no negative impact on the Greek Cypriot community – and said that what he demands at least from ‘Mr. Akinci, my friend and interlocutor, the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, is to realize that it is not enough to call for an understanding of what a federation is".

«I challenged him at the talks, I challenged him publicly, I challenge him now to tell me in which of the other 45 federal states are there provisions based on his demands, in order to achieve a solution”, the President said.

He wondered “who should have abandoned the talks? Akinci, because of a reference on the Enosis referendum of 1950 or me, after all we witness taking place in the territorial waters or in the Cypriot EEZ?”.

Despite these developments, he said, he is still on the negotiating table because he wants to exhaust every effort for a peaceful solution of the Cyprus problem, for the reunification of the island, the withdrawal of the Turkish occupation army, the creation of a modern European state, functional and viable, which will guarantee the rights of the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots.

The House of Representatives had passed a regulation providing for the introduction of a ten minutes annual commemoration at schools of the 1950 Enosis (union with Greece) referendum that took place in 1950, prompting Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to withdraw from the reunification talks.

Talks for a Cyprus solution resumed on April 11. Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Akinci have been engaged in the talks since May 2015 with a view to reunited the island, divided since the Turkish invasion of 1974, under a federal roof.

Turkey does not recognize the Republic of Cyprus. In recent weeks, Ankara has sent its vessels to carry out surveys in the Republic`s Exclusive Economic Zone.