Cyprus President Demetris Christofias has underlined Greek Cypriot side’s determination to exhaust all possibilities to solve the Cyprus issue, noting also that during the meeting he had in New York with Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-Moon and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglou, neither arbitration or tight timeframes were discussed.

In his speech, read out by Government Spokesman Stephanos Stephanou, during the unveiling ceremony of a monument in memory of people who gave their lives during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, or have been missing since then, President Christofias reiterated that our struggle is full of obstacles and difficulties due to Turkish intransigence and provocations, which needs to be dealt with the greatest possible unity in the internal front.

Cyprus’ reunification and the end of Turkish occupation remains our highest priority and a life goal, he stressed, adding that therefore “we strive consistently to achieve a just, viable and functional solution, under the circumstances, in the framework of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation”.

Christofias also stressed that “we reject compromising with our country’s partition and handing out half of our homeland to Turkey. Instead, we will exhaust all possibilities available within the existing agreed process, to achieve liberation and reunification”.

Referring to the meeting held in New York on October 30 -31, Christofias noted that the meeting unveiled the difficulties encountered by the Greek Cypriot side during the negotiation procedure and added that the SG’s statement indicates that the progress achieved in major issues, that is governance, property, territory and citizenship, is either limited or non-existent. President Christofias noted that progress has been achieved in the issues of economy, internal security and European Union that were discussed here in Cyprus, and not in New York.

In his statement, the UN Secretary General, Christofias said, clearly stated once again that an international conference to deal with the international aspects of the Cyprus issue would only be possible when a solution is found on its internal aspects. At the meeting, President added, “nothing was said about arbitration or tight timeframes. I want to underline this. In his statement SG expressed the wish or even the intention to reach end of game, something that can be interpreted as a final attempt to reach an agreed solution or a dead end”.

“Unfortunately, we are not close to a solution due to big differences separating the two sides” Christofias stated. He also pointed out that despite difficulties the Creek Cypriot side declares that it will continue working in good will, as it has been doing until now, to bridge the gap and reach a solution based on the UN’s resolutions on Cyprus, international and European law principles and values, and the high level agreements signed between the leaders of the two sides in 1977 and 1979.

“Our goal is the transformation of Cyprus to a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal Cyprus, with a single sovereignty, single citizenship and single international personality,” he added.

Furthermore, the Cypriot President said that to achieve this Turkey should abandon its policy of aggression and threats, and accept peaceful co-existence and cooperation with the federal Republic. To do so, he continued, international community must exert influence and pressure on Turkey. This is what Cyprus pleads the UN SG and Security Council for, the President said.