Famagusta Mayor Simos Ioannou said that Cyprus has already crossed the critical threshold towards partition, highlighting the urgent need for unity to restart negotiations.
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides addressed the event.
Addressing Famagusta’s anti-occupation event on Saturday in Deryneia, Ioannou said that “fifty years after the start of our refugee Odyssey, we find ourselves repeatedly navigating the straits of Scylla and Charybdis, edging ever closer to complete destruction.”
“We are not at a critical juncture, we have passed it, heading towards partition and two states,” he noted. “What remains now is to see if we can halt this trajectory before it takes on new tragic dimensions and sacrifices the future of the coming generations in Cyprus.”
Ioannou pointed out the necessity for unity based on shared goals, actions, policies, positions, and principles. He added that no one can bear the burden of solving the Cyprus issue alone and that everyone must support the leadership’s efforts to restart talks.
“We must do everything possible to bring the Cyprus issue back on the path to a solution,” he noted, referring to the solution of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality as described in relevant UN resolutions.
Ioannou stressed the importance of resuming negotiations from where they left off in Crans-Montana, based on the Guterres Framework.
“This is simultaneously the most effective way to save Famagusta and provide a promising future for all of Cyprus, while respecting and considering different views,” he said.
He also mentioned significant efforts by the Municipality of Famagusta to highlight the city’s issue internationally, to convey how blatantly illegal, irrational, and destructive the ongoing occupation of their homeland is.
Furthermore, Ioannou mentioned that they work alongside Turkish Cypriots who resist Turkey’s integration policies aligned with the reactionary and nationalist faction of the Turkish Cypriot leadership.
The Mayor added that despite the hardships and the fifty years that have passed, the people of Famagusta take the word “hope” seriously, “no matter how many times it has cost us.”
He emphasised that this hope is owed to their children. “It is our duty to remember that we count fifty years of hope. We experienced first-hand the vision and prospect of Famagusta. It is time for our children and grandchildren to experience it,” he pointed out.
In conclusion, he said that Famagusta could immediately become the gateway to reunification, freedom, cooperation, and peace for all of Cyprus and all Cypriots.
On his part, Ambassador of Greece to Nicosia Ioannis Papameletiou said that the resumption of Cyprus talks within the framework defined by the UN decisions and on the basis of the proposals submitted by the UN Secretary General’s personal envoy Maria Angela Holguin is the only way forward and this is the direction towards which Nicosia and Athens will work for together.
He added that we must never allow anyone to forget that Varosha is under a special status which provides for its return to is lawful inhabitants under the UN umbrella.
Turkey, Papameletiou stressed, should abide by this and this would be a first and important step in building confidence. A first step towards achieving the common goal of Athens and Nicosia, that for a Republic of Cyprus with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a singly nationality, without occupying troops and anachronistic guarantees.
During the event, British MP and friend of Cyprus sir Roger Gale was named honorary citizen of Famagusta.
“Fifty years since the people of Famagusta were able to return to their own homes. Fifty years since the last Famagusta orange fest. Fifty years since the hotels at Varosha were filled with life and laughter. Fifty years since the Turkish army of occupation took over the northern part of this island. This has got to end,” he stressed.
Addressing the Famagusta Municipality he said “You have done me a great honour and I do not believe that honour would have been earned until your island, our island, this beautiful island is reunified.” To achieve that, he noted, “it is going to take considerable political courage and it will not happen without political risk.” He wished the President, on behalf of himself and his colleagues in the UK, “the best in your endeavours”.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed last January 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.
Varosha, the fenced off section of the Turkish occupied town of Famagusta, is often described as a ‘ghost town’.
UN Security Council resolution 550 (1984) considers any attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN. UN Security Council resolution 789 (1992) also urges that with a view to the implementation of resolution 550 (1984), the area at present under the control of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus be extended to include Varosha.
The Turkish Cypriot leadership announced in July 2021 a partial lifting of the military status in Varosha. A few months earlier, on October 8, 2020, the Turkish side opened part of the fenced area of Varosha, following an announcement made in Ankara on October 6. The UN Security Council called for the reversal of this course of action, while the UN Secretary General, in his latest report on his mission of good offices in Cyprus, reiterated his concern over developments in the fenced-off area, noting that the position of the UN on Varosha remains unchanged. The EU also expressed grave concern.
