The Cyprus issue is an issue of rightfulness and justice and in order to unlock the process of solving it, the spirit of consensus and unity as well as the engagement of the international and european community are necessary, House President Annita Demetriou said on Monday, addressing a memorial service for the heroes and fallen of the Turkish-occupied village of Yialousa.
She said that the Parliament has called on the international community to exercise its influence, to defend justice, to stand by us with no double standards or any discrimination.
Demetriou pointed out that only a solution that would meet both the Charter of the United Nations and the relevant resolutions, as well as the principles and values of the European Union, can be functional and sustainable.
She also said that it is important to emphasize that the resumption of the peace talks must be in the agreed framework of a solution which is the bizonal, bicommunal federation, with one sovereignty, one citizenship, one international persona
lity and will be based on respect for the background, language, religion and culture of all the legal residents of the island.
She also said that we want a solution that will terminate the anachronistic guarantees and will end the foreign occupation.
The House President also said that we should all join forces and unitedly oppose the Turkish provocations and aggressive stance that wishes to create a new fait accomplis in the fenced off town of Famagusta and the Cyprus exclusive economic zone.
Demetriou also referred to the issue of missing persons, stressing that the identification of all the missing on the island is our duty.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.
Since then, the fate of hundreds of people remains unknown.
A Committee on Missing Persons has been established, upon agreement between the leaders of the two communities, with the scope of exhuming, identifying and returning to their relatives the remains of 492 Turkish Cypriots and 1,510 Gre
ek Cypriots, who went missing during the inter-communal fighting of 1963-1964 and in 1974.
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