Friday 03 September 2010
19:26

15 November 2009 19:09

NICOSIA -- House President, Marios Garoyan, has called on the international community to confront with determination and stringency Turkey’s inflexibility and arrogance towards the solution of Cyprus problem.

Speaking at a special event, organised by the municipalities of occupied towns to condemn the 1983 unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) by the Turkish Cypriots in the northern part of the island, Garoyan said that Turkey’s audacity must be stopped, noting that its inflexibility is reflected in its stance towards the direct negotiations which started in September 2008 between President Christofias and the Turkish Cypriot leader and towards its obligations to the EU regarding its accession process. 

Turkey is trying to impose its own terms on the context of the Cyprus solution, he said, noting that “Ankara advocates a confederal solution, a solution of two states, two peoples in Cyprus, two nations, two religions. It insists on Turkish guarantees and rights of intervention, on virgin birth (the establishment of a new state), the stay of Turkish settlers after a solution, the exploitation of Greek Cypriot properties (in the occupied areas of Cyprus), the desecration of our religious monuments and the total ethnic cleansing of the occupied areas”.

At the same time, Turkey claims supports for the solution effort, said Garoyan, warning that “anymore tolerance to this Turkish attitude will lead to humiliation”.

The House President condemned the illegal unilateral declaration of independence in the Republic’s northern Turkish occupied areas, on November 15, 1983. He said that we demand the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions which describe the UDI as legally invalid and call on all states not to recognise it. None but Turkey does.

Cyprus, he said, supports Turkey’s accession process to the EU “but we will never allow it to join the Union if it does not adopt a European behaviour”. The Greek Cypriot side, he added, wants a solution of the Cyprus problem as soon as possible, but not a solution based on the terms, objectives and intentions of Turkey, Garoyan stressed, noting that “compromise is one thing and submission is totally different”.

Bizonal, bicommunal federation is a painful compromise on which the UN bases its efforts to achieve an agreed solution in Cyprus, the House President said, who wondered why the UN cannot force Turkey to respect UN principles and resolutions.