President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades has said that it is time to get rid of the presence of third parties, or those who want the third parties to control Cyprus.
The President wondered who would ever support the position that “we could have accepted a solution that would include the continuation of the system of guarantees, Turkey’s intervention rights, or even worse, a permanent military base and the presence of a Turkish military contingent in Cyprus for ever.”
“There are issues for which one may be flexible and there are issues that go beyond the boundaries of tolerance or acceptance,” he went on to say.
In his address at the first annual Pancyprian Festival of Agricultural Culture organized by the Cyprus Agricultural Payments Organization (CAPO), President Anastasiades said that Turkey carries the burden of total responsibility for the deadlock in the Cyprus talks, despite the initiatives and good will of the Greek Cypriot side.
Ankara’s positions, he continued, remained intransigent and no Greek Cypriot could accept them.
What we need, both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, is security, he said, adding that the security of one community can not constitute a threat for the other community.
The President said that both communities need a framework that would enable them to live in peace, in a truly independent and sovereign state that is not dependent on third parties.
“Guarantees have caused problems and the main problems – and I say this publicly – were mainly caused, during various stages in history – from the guarantors”, he said, adding that it is time to get rid of the presence of third parties “or of those who want the third parties to control us.”
Referring to Greece, he said that since 1974 it has respected the elected governments in Cyprus, but stressed that this is not the case with Turkey, “which does not recognize the Republic of Cyprus, but unfortunately fully controls our Turkish Cypriot compatriots”.
He expressed the wish that Turkish Cypriots will realize that “together we can co-create. But a decision must be taken once and for all. We are a European state, let us use the European principles and values and let us create conditions of progress for all of us,” he concluded.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. The latest round of the UN-backed Cyprus talks in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, ended inconclusively. The peace talks under the auspices of the UN aim at reuniting the island under a federal roof.