Reunification on the basis of UN resolutions the only goal, President says

The only objective is the liberation and reunification of Cyprus on the basis of United Nations resolutions, President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, said on Sunday, addressing the National Memorial Service at the Church of St. Epiphanios in Lympia, commemorating Michael Olympios who fought during the anticolonial struggle of the '50s and later during the outbreak of the 1964 intercommunal strife. The memorial speech was read by the Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, Giorgos Papanastasiou, who represented the President of the Republic at the memorial service. The President of the Republic said that the conditions and facts are not and have never been favourable, noting that despite the challenges posed by the Turkish approach, the coordinated actions at the diplomatic level have succeeded in attracting international interest, especially from the United Nations and the European Union, in the effort to resume the talks. "We made a promise and we will keep it to the end by doing ever ything possible. A promise of continuous struggle and effort with the sole objective of liberation, the reunification of our country on the basis of the United Nations resolutions, the agreed framework and the principles and values of the European Union", he said. 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 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