Maronite Representative in the House of Representatives Antonis Haji Roussos expressed on Friday his community`s support of the efforts the two leaders are undertaking to reunify Cyprus under a federal roof.
Addressing an event organised by the Maronite Youth of Cyprus at the House of Cooperation in the buffer zone, in Nicosia, Haji Roussos said that “we do not accept the status quo and we do not compromise with the division of our society nor our country.”
He also expressed the Cypriot Maronites` claim for “the constitutional recognition of our community as a national community, according to the international conventions the Republic of Cyprus is a signatory of regarding minorities, which refer to education, culture and human rights.”
Referring to the two leaders, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci and their efforts to reunite the island, divided since the Turkish invasion of 1974, he said that “they cooperate with understanding and effectiveness in order to overcome the obstacles resulting after forty years of division, the isolation of people and the faits accomplis.”
“We deeply appreciate their effort and we will not leave them exposed to unproductive criticism,” he pointed out.
Hadji Roussos declared that the Maronites, will to the best of their ability, “stand by them and help in any possible way.”
“We will help them build a democratic federal state,” he pointed out, highlighting the fact that a federation, is by its very nature a unifying element in multicultural societies and helps them to live together in peace.
Addressing all Cypriots in the audience, as she said, UN Secretary General`s Special Representative in Cyprus Lisa Buttenheim encouraged them “to remember that the future of Cyprus is in your hands and that the leaders need your support, need to hear your voices and very much need your engagement to move things forward.”
“At this moment when there are genuine prospects for achieving a comprehensive settlement it is crucial that all Cypriots play their part in supporting the efforts of the leaders”, she noted.
She recalled that UN Secretary General Ban Ki -moon during his recent bilateral meetings with both leaders in New York “welcomed the positive and constructive spirit that they have demonstrated as well as their commitment to intensify the pace of their meetings in the months to come in order to reach a settlement as soon as possible.”
“This is not to say that everything has been resolved”, she said, acknowledging that “there are difficult issues and a lot of work remains ahead”. She pointed out however that “many important elements have been agreed starting with the Joint Declaration of 11th February 2014 where it is clearly stated that the settlement will be based on a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with political equality.”
During the event a short documentary in which young and old Maronites express their desire for reunification was shown. A band of young Maronites performed the song,”My Country has been divided in Two, which of the two should I love” with lyrics by Nese Yasin and music by Marios Tokas