Written Declaration by Yiorgos Loucaides, member of the Political Bureau of the C.C. and AKEL Parliamentary Representative
AKEL C.C Press Office, 9th July 2017, Nicosia
AKEL reiterates the need for us to seek to preserve the acquis of negotiations which have continued for almost ten years now.
At the same time, we believe it is crucial that the UN and the EU have the same version as Mr. Anastasiades as regards the reasons for the collapse of the procedure in Switzerland.
If proven otherwise, as already appears to be the case, it will have extremely negative side-effects, in addition to what the continuation of the occupation involves.
On the one hand, it will weaken, if not cancel, every effort to put pressure on Turkey in the future to agree on a mutually acceptable solution. On the other hand, it will weaken our effort to address possible adventurist actions and new fait accompli by Ankara.
Finally, just like every citizen, we are baffled as to how, according to Mr. Anastasiades’ version, Turkey was in direct and absolute conflict with the Guterres framework since the latter, through his spokesman the day after welcomed Turkey’s strong commitment to the procedure. Or even worse, through their anonymous statements so far in the mass media, EU and UN officials are apportioning the responsibility on Mr. Anastasiades. We hope that tomorrow’s briefing by the President of the Republic will answer the serious questions that arise and more importantly that Mr. Anastasiades will ensure that the EU and UN have the same version as his.
