How does the revocation of passports serve the resumption of Cyprus negotiations?

Statement by Stavri Kalopsidiotou, AKEL C.C. member on yesterday’s decision of the Council of Ministers

How does the revocation of passports serve the resumption of negotiations?

24 August 2021, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Yesterday’s decision approved by the Council of Ministers for the withdrawal or non-renewal of travel documents of Turkish Cypriots (Note: affecting 14 Turkish Cypriot officials of the illegal regime in the occupied areas, 10 “ministers” and four others) constitutes yet another of the many communication moves to which the Anastasiades-DISY government has accustomed us. However, this raises two key questions to which the President of the Republic is called upon to give a reply.

The first is how this decision serves the declared goal of the Greek Cypriot side for a resumption of substantive negotiations from where they had remained at Crans Montana as soon as possible.

The second is whether the Anastasiades-DISY government intends to take substantial initiatives in this direction or whether it will continue to be content with denunciatory actions which, have indeed proven that they can no longer cause any great costs for Turkey or free us from the partitionist status quo and the occupation.

It is convincing, consistent and comprehensive policies on the Cyprus problem that can give a real impetus to the resumption of negotiations within the agreed framework and to the cause of an overall solution. The experimentations and questioning of fundamental convergences allow Turkey to continue its partitionist machinations almost unhindered and damage the Greek Cypriot side’s credibility. On the contrary, if Mr. Anastasiades at long last does what the UN Secretary General was repeating up until recently, if he convincingly focuses on resuming the dialogue from where it had remained in 2017, making use of the natural gas to act as a catalyst, we can at least look forward to breaking the current negotiating deadlock, given that either Turkey will be forced to return to the negotiations from where we left off, or it will be held solely responsible for the stalemate, which is not currently the case.

Even belatedly, if Mr. Anastasiades shares our position that the unproductive passage of time is only an ally of the occupying power, which is exploiting it by creating dangerous fait accompli, he should study the proposal AKEL had submitted to him in good time. Only through a structured political proposal will the goal of liberation and reunification be served and not through reflected moves that satisfy the government ruling force’s temporary petty-political needs.