The international community must turn its attention and exert its influence, showing more will, towards Ankara in order to curb its intransigence and aggressive policy, Cyprus Defence Minister, Michalis Giorgallas, has said in a memorial speech at the Holy Church of Panagia Katholiki in Psimolophou. The Minister attended on Sunday the memorial service for the men from Psimolophou who died during the battles of Tilliria in 1964 and the brutal Turkish invasion of 1974.
The Defence Minister reiterated that Nicosia has been seeking the continuation of the talks and the resumption of the dialogue between the two communities, explaining that it should be an honest and sincere dialogue, under the auspices of the United Nations, with a more active EU contribution, whose final outcome will be the conclusion a mutually acceptable, viable and workable solution to the Cyprus problem.
Giorgallas also said that the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, has set the removal of the impasse in the Cyprus problem as a primary objective.
"We wish and seek to achieve a solution to the Cyprus problem," the Defence Minister said, a solution, he added, which will free Cyprus and reunite it, providing its people conditions of peace, security and freedom.
Unfortunately, he continued, the recent incidents caused by the Turkish occupation forces in the buffer zone in Pyla area and the unprovoked attack against members of the UN peacekeeping force, confirms once again that Ankara is not willing to honour the agreed framework, which through dialogue and negotiation will lead to a solution to the Cyprus problem.
Giorgallas noted that it is for this reason that the international community must turn its attention and exert its influence on Ankara, showing more will, with the aim of curbing its intransigence and aggressive policy.
He pointed out that despite Turkey's attitude and its refusal to abide by the agreed terms, "we will continue to defend the rights of our people internationally with the same committed attitude and the same will."
On Friday August 18, 2023 men of the occupation regime punched and kicked a group of international peacekeepers who obstructed crews illegally working on a road that would encroach on a UN controlled buffer zone.
The attack happened as peacekeepers stood in the way of work crews building a road to connect the Turkish occupied village of Arsos with the mixed Greek Cypriot-Turkish Cypriot village of Pyla, inside the buffer zone.
Members of the Security Council condemned onTuesday, August 22, 2023, the incidents in the buffer zone, in the village of Pyla, in Larnaca district, with assaults against UN peacekeepers, reiterating their full support for UNFICYP.
They also condemned the attacks on UN peacekeepers and the damage to UN vehicles by Turkish Cypriot personnel and wished a speedy and full recovery to the peacekeepers who were injured. They emphasized that "attacks against peacekeepers may constitute crimes under international law and reaffirmed their full commitment to the safety of all UN personnel."
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.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
