The Cypriot government remains firmly and irrevocably committed to finding a solution to the Cyprus problem on the basis of international law, Minister of the Interior Socratis Hasikos said Friday, stressing that it is up to Turkey to prove that it indeed seeks a just and comprehensive settlement to the problem.
Hasikos was the speaker in an event organized by the Committee of Occupied Municipalities to condemn the illegal unilateral declaration of independence of the pseudostate on November 15 1983. The UDI came nine years after the Turkish occupation of Cyprus that resulted in the occupation of 37 per cent of the island’s territory.
“The sad anniversary of the UDI in the areas of the Republic under Turkish occupation and the preservation of this form until today manifests Turkey’s continued intransigent stance to comply with the UN Security Council resolutions 541 and 550,” he said, describing the 15th of November 1983 as an unfortunate day for refugees and the Republic alike.
In resolution 531 (1983), the UN deplored the declaration of the Turkish Cypriot authorities of the purported secession of part of the Republic of Cyprus and called for its withdrawal.
Stressing the Cyprus government’s efforts to reach a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem, Hasikos noted however that the Turkish Cypriot leadership rhetoric for the existence of two states and two peoples in Cyprus does not help but rather renders the aim for a settlement more remote.
“It is up to Turkey to prove the opposite,” he said, noting that Turkey for instance could stop obstructing the drafting of a joint declaration that would enable the resumption of the UN- led talks between the two communities on an agreed basis.
Hasikos also recalled Turkish Prime Minister’s remark that there is no country called Cyprus, noting that such remarks are all but conducive to a positive climate.
“On the contrary they strengthen the perception that the Turkish side does not concede to a solution and a reunification nor to the evolution of the Republic of Cyprus to a bi-zonal and bi-communal federation, the common state of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots alike,” he went on to say.
The Cypriot Minister made clear that the Cyprus settlement should provide for a single state, a single sovereignty and international personality and a single citizenship and should safeguard the independence and territorial integrity that would comprise of two politically equal communities, as described in the relevant UN resolutions.
“We know that we have no right to a new failure in the Cyprus problem and that is why the affirmation of the basis and methodology of the talks and their right preparation are imperative for the resumption of the talks,” he said.
