Overseas Cypriots who gathered in Nicosia for their 19th Conference reiterated that they will continue their efforts to persuade the international community that Turkish demands regarding the Cyprus problem are irrational.
The 19th World Conference of the World Federation of Overseas Cypriots (POMAK), the International Coordinating Committee – Justice for Cyprus (PSEKA) and the World Conference of Young Overseas Cypriots (NEPOMAK) was opened here tonight by the President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades.
The opening ceremony of the conference was also addressed by Greece`s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Terence Quick, who noted in his speech that his goal is to broaden the Greek Diaspora, adding that the Greek government is preparing a bill aiming to revive the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) in a way that the Greek Diaspora becomes independent. The Council, he stressed, will not be dominated by political parties or the government and will be self-financed.
Quick said that he and the Cyprus Presidential Commissioner for Humanitarian and Overseas Affairs Photis Photiou are investing in the new generations of the Greek and the Cypriot Diaspora.
POMAK president Andreas Papaevripides pledged, in his speech, that overseas Cypriots will continue their efforts to persuade the countries in which they reside that Turkey’s unreasonable demands and positions and its insistence on anachronistic models on the chapter of security and guarantees cannot be accepted.
He also asked the Government to increase the number of teaching staff and teaching materials in the schools of the Diaspora.
Philip Christopher, president of PSEKA- International Coordinating Committee “Justice for Cyprus”, said that 43 years after the Turkish invasion and after serious consideration from 1977 until today “we need a new strategy.”
“There is no question that the negotiations have basically downgraded the problem. A problem of illegal invasion and occupation it is today a bi-communal dispute. This is how the world looks at the problem. It is not a dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. It is an illegal invasion and an illegal occupation and our new strategy should be that way” PSEKA president stressed.
“Illegal occupation, destruction of cultural heritage, illegal settlers, ethnic cleansing, these are the messages that we have to bring out to the world” he underlined, noting that many among the overseas Cypriots are frustrated and many others are disappointed.
He noted that Cypriots living see things differently and “cannot understand that in today’s world we are looking to solve the problem by making a bizonal bicommunal federation”.
He added that it is time that the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci asked Turkey to withdraw its troops from Cyprus, to remove the illegal settlers and to allow the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots to go back to their homes.
Antonia Michaelides, president of NEPOMAK, the world organisation of young Cypriots abroad, noted that “despite the best efforts (and concessions) of President Anastasiades in Crans Montana, the negotiations did not result in a much-hoped solution for the benefit of all Cypriots”.
“What we are asking for is both simple and fair. A just solution based on the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions and the High Level Agreements of 1977 and 1979, a fully functioning state that is in line with the rule of law and is free from foreign interference. Put simply, a “normal state”, as the UN Secretary-General recently said” Michaelides stressed.
She added that “in spite of the most recent setbacks, the youth of the Diaspora will never give up on our hope for a free united Cyprus. Our commitment to continuing this mission is unwavering and all the more important, as we inspire the younger generations across the world to continue to push for a just and peaceful solution to the Cyprus problem” she said.
Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos II, in a speech read out by his representative Grigorios Mouzouroulis, said that it was wrong for the Greek Cypriot side to accept the term “bi-zonal bi-communal federation”, with all the dangerous ambiguities attributed to it by the Turkish side, noting that during the long-standing talks, the Turkish Cypriots were given undeserved privileges.
Should the Greek Cypriot side not succeed in resolving the Cyprus issue on the basis of the National Council’s 2009 unanimous decisions, he said, it must then highlight the Cyprus problem as a problem of invasion and occupation, demanding liberation and not just reunification. The Archbishop underlined that this is the strategy that the new president who will be elected in the 2018 presidential elections must follow and should be supported by all the political parties.
The Conference continues its deliberations tomorrow.
The latest round of UN-facilitated negotiations in early July this year, to solve the Cyprus problem and reunite the island, ended inconclusively because of Turkey’s unacceptable demands to maintain its intervention rights and retain military presence in Cyprus.
