Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis underlined the importance that Greece attaches to the resumption of the dialogue for finding a viable solution to the Cyprus problem in the framework of the UN Security Council resolutions on a bizonal bicommunal federation.
In an interview with ERT, Gerapetritis said that the Cyprus problem was discussed during yesterday’s meeting between the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara.
“Our position is that discussions between the parties should resume. That is, discussions between President Christodoulides and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, Tatar, under the auspices of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General, María Ángela Holguín, so that we can see the field within which we will move.”
“And this field can only be the United Nations Security Council resolutions on a bizonal bicommunal federation,” he added.
Referring to Turkish and Turkish Cypriot sides’ rhetoric on sovereign equali
ty, which is outside the framework of the United Nations, Gerapetritis suggested that it is crucial at this moment for President Christodoulides and Tatar ‘to sit at the same table and discuss.’
At the same time, he assured that the Greek side is exerting all the necessary diplomatic pressure towards this direction. “There is absolutely no way we can leave the Cyprus problem behind,” he said.
He also underlined that both the Greek and the Cypriot governments are convinced that the improvement of Greek-Turkish relations contributes positively to the discussions on the Cyprus issue.
On Tuesday morning the Greek Foreign Minister met in Athens with the Personal Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General María Ángela Holguín.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded 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 Ge
neral Antonio Guterres appointed Holguin in January 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