Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, has asked German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to convey to Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the message the Turkey must stay away from any provocations and avoid any activities that could influence the status quo of Famagusta.

In statements after a teleconference he had on Thursday evening with Merkel, President Anastasiades said that “I have asked her to convey to the Turkish President with whom she will speak on Friday, via a teleconference, that Turkey must stay away from any provocations, must avoid anything that can affect the status quo of Famagusta, while at the same time if it wants a positive agenda it needs to create the conditions that would not ignore any member state and more importantly it must at last take measures on the issue of refugee flows in order to stop them and have a significant improvement as regards this situation.”

Anastasiades said that Merkel “showed readiness to play a role in the efforts, in order to avoid any provocative actions by Turkey and was eager to contribute so that the EU will be present, but also will give any other help it can at the legal or other level, so that the pursued settlement of the Cyprus problem will be the desired one.”

According to a Presidency press release, Anastasiades said that they had a long and quite creative conversation with Merkel to update her as well as in the framework of efforts made so that countries which are friendly to Cyprus will intervene with a view to promote prospects for the informal meeting on Cyprus, to create the conditions that will allow the UN Secretary-General to proceed with a substantive dialogue on the Cyprus problem and to convene a new conference on Cyprus.

The President said that he had the opportunity to reiterate his determination to be sufficiently creative during his presence at the informal five-party meeting on Cyprus, insisting that the settlement cannot derogate from the parameters of the UN resolutions and cannot violate the EU acquis.

“As I explained we are and we will remain an EU country and this is why we are asking for the EU`s contribution so that with its presence it will secure that what is agreed is compatible with the EU acquis,” he added.

Anastasiades also said that he and Merkel discussed about the European Council meeting that will take place on March 25-26, during which the migration issue will be discussed, recalling that refugee flows from Turkey have a significant impact on the population composition of the Republic of Cyprus and especially of the Greek Cypriot community.”

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017, at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana, ended inconclusively. The UN Secretary-General invited all parties involved to attend an informal five-plus-one meeting on the Cyprus issue in Geneva, Switzerland, from 27 to 29 April 2021.