The mobility that will take place surrounding the Cyprus problem due to the submission of the report by the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Cyprus Jane Lute, but also of the meetings of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres with the two leaders in New York, must conclude in the resumption of the negotiations, and that is precisely where be the efforts of the President of the Republic Nikos Anastasiades must focus on, the General Secretary of AKEL Andros Kyprianou pointed out today.

He added that AKEL’s request to the President of the Republic is at the meeting he will have with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, within the framework of the convening of the General Assembly of the International Organization, he should really convince Mr. Guterres that this time, if negotiations do start, he himself will have the will to go all the way. “He should persuade him, not say it verbally, but to convince him that this is indeed his intention,” noted Mr. Kyprianou.

The General Secretary of AKEL also said that his Party is worried because there are reports saying that Mr. Anastasiades is rapidly moving away from the solution of bizonal, bicommunal federation and also because the government side has still not replied to these reports.

Asked at a press conference whether the National Council should meet in view of the President of the Republic’s departure for New York, Mr. Kyprianou said that “it is obvious that Mr. Anastasiades has decided to handle the Cyprus problem on his own. This is clearly evident.”

A.Kyprianou said there would be mobility on the Cyprus problem due to Mrs. Lute’s report and the meetings of the UN Secretary-General with the two leaders in New York.

He noted that “these (meetings) should conclude in the resumption of the negotiations and that’s precisely where Mr. Anastasiades’ efforts must focus on. That is to say, how such conditions are shaped so that immediately afterwards a substantive dialogue should commence with a view to arriving at an agreed solution, that will be based on UN decisions, the High-Level Agreements, International and European law”.

The General Secretary of AKEL stressed that we must reach to that point as soon as possible, to subsequently add that his Party is worried because there are reports that say that Mr. Anastasiades is rapidly moving away from the solution of bizonal, bicommunal federation and also because these reports remain unanswered on the part of the government.

“We had expected that the President of the Republic and the Government would at least state that these reports do not correspond to reality. Unfortunately, they (the President and government) are not showing that they are sensitive to these reports”, A. Kyprianou said.

Replying to an observation that the Government has stated that President Anastasiades has told Mrs. Lute that the Greek Cypriot side is ready for a resumption of the talks from where they had remained at Crans Montana, the General Secretary of AKEL said that it’s not enough for the Government to say publicly “after many regressions and contradictions that we are ready to start from where we had remained.”

“The President of the Republic must convince the UN Secretary-General that this time he has the will to go all the way. And our request to the President of the Republic is in his meeting with him, within the framework of the UN General Assembly, he must really convince him that this time if the negotiations begin he will have the will to go to the very end; to convince him, not tell him verbally, but to convince him that this is indeed his intention,” he concluded.

Statement by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL A.Kyprianou

“DIALOGOS” web portal, 10 September 2018