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President to brief EU leaders on EEZ and Varosha

13/10/2020 14:16

The President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades travels to Brussels on Wednesday to attend the European Council Summit on 15 and 16 October.

During the Summit the President of the Republic will brief the Council on the latest developments with regard to the Turkish provocations and illegal actions in the fenced-off town of Varosha as well as in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Republic of Cyprus.

At the Summit the EU leaders will discuss issues pertaining to the epidemiological situation, relations with the United Kingdom, as well as climate change and relations with Africa.

President Anastasiades will be accompanied in Brussels by the Government Spokesman Kyriakos Koushos.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.

Turkey issued a new illegal Navtex last Friday for seismic research by Turkish vessel "Barbaros" within Cyprus` Exclusive Economic Zone.

Ankara sent on several occasions its seismic research vessel ‘Barbaros’ to Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), following the Republic of Cyprus’ decision, in 2011, to start exploratory offshore drilling. After May 2019, Turkey caused a stir by sending consecutively two drill ships, “Fatih” and “Yavuz”, to conduct unauthorised drilling activities of hydrocarbons in the Eastern Mediterranean, at times in areas licensed by Cyprus to international energy companies.

The European Council reaffirmed its full solidarity with Cyprus, regarding the respect of its sovereignty and sovereign rights in accordance with international law and in February 2020, placed two persons under restrictive measures, in relation to Turkey`s unauthorised drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Moreover, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and “prime minister” of the Turkish Cypriot puppet regime Ersin Tatar announced last week in Ankara the opening of part of the beach of the abandoned town of Famagusta and went ahead with it last Thursday, in violation to numerous UN resolutions.

Varosha, the fenced off section of the Turkish occupied town of Famagusta, is often described as a ‘ghost town’. UN Security Council resolution 550 (1984) considers any attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN. UN Security Council resolution 789 (1992) also urges that with a view to the implementation of resolution 550 (1984), the area at present under the control of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus be extended to include Varosha.