AKEL unequivocally denounces the new threats issued by the Turkish Defense Minister against Cyprus, who claims that “Turkey is as determined as it was in 1974 to defend the rights of the Turkish Cypriots”. Threats of violence and war have no place in the modern world and in international relations.

The rights of the Turkish Cypriots are not protected through the use of force, nor by the violation of International Law. On the contrary, the occupation and colonialization of half of Cyprus by Turkey, the division of our island and people through force, afflict not only the Greek Cypriots, but the Turkish Cypriots too.

Turkey must realize that the rights of Turkish Cypriots are safeguarded with a solution of the Cyprus problem based on principles, on the basis of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality as set out in the Resolutions of the UN. The participation of the Turkish Cypriots in the exploitation of the natural wealth of Cyprus, which belongs to the Cypriot people as a whole, is ensured through the relevant convergences that were agreed between the two communities.

Since the Turkish Defence Minister cites International Law, he should have known that the only way to resolve the issue of the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone between Turkey and Cyprus is not Turkey’s various misinterpretations, but International Law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.