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Anastasiades hopes ‘intense diplomatic efforts’ on Varosha will yield results



President Nicos Anastasiades expressed hope on Sunday that “intense diplomatic efforts” would prevent further threats by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to the north on Tuesday.


In a statement to the Greek newspaper To Vima, Anastasiades said that the government, in coordination with the Greek government, was exhausting every diplomatic effort “both within the European Union and towards friendly countries, including permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council”.


Anastasiades reiterated the government’s political will and determination to work within the parameters of the United Nations and the European Union to find a solution to the Cyprus problem “leading to a federal state with its independence and sovereignty fully full guaranteed, and which will be free of third-party guarantees or occupying troops”.


Such a solution should “ensure the functionality and therefore the viability of the state, always with full respect of the principles and values enshrined in the European acquis and the provisions of the United Nations Charter,” he said.


However, the president expressed the view that Turkish behaviour did not give much hope for a solution to be found in the short term.


“Turkey`s illegal and unlawful actions manifested in the exclusive economic zone as well as on the ground, highlighted by its claims for a solution beyond and outside the UN resolutions as well as the creation of new faits accomplis by changing the status of the fenced off city of Varosha, but also through the absolute control it exercises over the Turkish Cypriot community, do not create much room for hope,” Anastasiades said.


“Both I and my predecessors… have sought, through painful concessions, to find a solution that would allow the Republic of Cyprus to evolve into a functional and viable state, consistent with the principles of international law and the values of the European Union.”

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