Demetriou says priority remains to reunite Cyprus

House speaker Annita Demetriou said on Sunday said the state’s sole priority remains to reunite Cyprus.

She added that only a solution of the Cyprus issue will ensure peace in the country and will be a catalyst for security and stability in the wider area.

“Despite the fact that the current situation does not leave us room for optimism, we must not give up our efforts not for a minute, not for a moment,” she said.

She added that no opportunity “should be missed and no milestone should be left unexploited, let alone that of the United Nations General Assembly at the end of this month”.

Speaking during a memorial service at Anafotia village, in Larnaca, Demetriou said that “half a century after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Cypriot issue remains a complex and sensitive issue, a question of invasion and occupation, which can only be resolved with persistence, determination and continuous effort. On our part, we must work with unity and faith, to create the conditions for removing the unacceptable existing situation”.

She also stated that “the continuous provocative actions of the breakaway regime, Turkey and the unacceptable positions of the Turkish President [Tayyip] Erdogan for a two-state solution” cannot be discussed and are not within the framework of the UN resolutions and legitimacy.

It is imperative once again, she said, “to emphasize our continuous and tireless efforts to resume the talks, with the aim of finding a viable solution, always based on the principles and values of international law, of the European Union of which Cyprus is a full state member for twenty years, as well as the resolutions of the United Nations, in the agreed solution framework which is the bi-zonal bi-communal federation with political equality.

In these efforts, she noted, “the tools of diplomacy, the valuable, powerful and unique way that we as the Republic of Cyprus have at our disposal, are an ally, which we must constantly utilize to the maximum extent possible. That is why, at the same time, we must support every effort and every initiative that leads in the right direction”.

“The only solution is the solution of the Cyprus issue itself, the only solution that will ensure and protect the rights of all legal residents of our island, far from anachronistic guarantees and occupying troops. Only through such a solution will peace and freedom be ensured in Cyprus, and this will be a catalyst for security and stability in the wider region,” she said.