President Christodoulides’ high priority since he assumed office is to create the conditions for the resumption of the peace talks for a Cyprus solution, Energy Minister George Papanastasiou said on Monday, at a memorial event organized by Kyrenia Municipality, on the occasion of the 50 years since the Turkish invasion.
Representing the President, the Minister said in his address that we shall never forget and will never come into terms with the effects of the invasion and the continuous occupation of our homeland. He said that the President’s efforts led to the appointment by the UNSG of his personal envoy for the Cyprus issue.
Papanastasiou noted that the Greek Cypriot side is ready and committed for a solution, pointing out the concern in the well being and the future of the younger generations.
He also said that Cyprus should be reunited into a modern and European state where all its legal residents coexist, without occupying forces and guarantees.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invad
ed and occupied its northern third.
Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.
Source: Cyprus News Agency