AKEL: The information about the selling of hotels in the enclosed area of Famagusta raise questions and grave concerns

29 April 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The information that has seen the light of day over the last 24 hours about the selling of three hotels in the enclosed area of Famagusta is a source of grave concern. If this development is confirmed, it will constitute a new painful fait accompli against Famagusta and Cyprus, in conflict with international law and the relevant Resolutions of the United Nations Security Council on the status of the enclosed city. AKEL will await to be fully and responsibly briefed by the government on this issue.

Nevertheless, it has once again been confirmed that the prolonged stalemate and the negotiating vacuum on the Cyprus problem creates a fertile ground on which the occupying power Turkey is constantly creating new negative fait accompli. This, moreover, is clear from the entire historical experience of the Cyprus problem. All the more so now that we have the longest-lasting absence of any negotiations ever, with the international community assigning responsibility on the Greek Cypriot community too, and, in fact, exonerating and relieving Turkey of responsibilities.

AKEL will not tire of asserting in every direction that if Varosha is to be saved from colonisation and our entire country from permanent partition, we must focus on trying to find a solution on the agreed basis and framework. The way to do this is the resumption of the talks from where they were interrupted in 2017 on the basis of the Guterres Framework by preserving all the convergences that have been recorded so far. This is the position that the President of the Republic must express in a convincing and consistent way.