If the Cyprus negotiations fail, Turkey will bear the whole responsibility, if it insists on anachronistic solutions as regards the security issue, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides has stressed.
Speaking at the anti-occupation event on Saturday evening, organized by the Famagusta Municipality, Kasoulides said that Turkey is the only guarantor power, which still refers to the anachronistic system of guarantees, which is not acceptable by Cyprus, noting that the securities and guarantees chapter is the most crucial in achieving a solution on the island.
Referring to the UN led ongoing Cyprus talks, he said that for the first time they are Cypriot owned talks, while for the first time the two leaders proceeded in detail to four out of the six aspects of the Cyprus problem.
The negotiations, he pointed out, are being carried out continuously since May 2015, and added that what matters is the quality of the solution and not timeframes, which are proven to be counterproductive.
“Through the negotiations, we seek to ensure the basic freedoms, the European principles and values, the safeguarding of human rights for every citizen, the guarantee of the right of free movement, freedom of establishment, the right to property, the right to exercise a profession. In ensuring the basic principles, there is convergence in the negotiations and this is an important progress”, he continued.
But many difficult issues still remain, he said, and referred to the chapter of properties, while, the territory chapter is linked with the properties and important for its conclusion and the securities and guarantees chapter is the most crucial factor in achieving the solution.
“Even if there is convergence and agreement in all other matters, it will not be possible nor for the President but much more for the people, to accept a solution, unless there is a security system, which will make both communities in Cyprus feel equally safe “he said.
Turkey, he pointed out, is the only guarantor power, which still refers to the anachronistic system of guarantees and said that if the Cyprus talks fail, Turkey will bear the whole responsibility if it insists on anachronistic solutions as regards the security issue.
Referring to Famagusta, he said that in the 42 years of Turkish occupation, through the various Cyprus talks, the return of the beloved town of Famagusta was coming closer as other occupied areas, but it remained distant and elusive dream.
He recalled that as soon as the government assumed office back in 2013, it undertook the initiative for the return of Famagusta as a Confidence Building Measure in line with the relevant UNSC resolutions at a time when the resumption of the Cyprus talks seemed unrealistic.
Kasoulides said that the government had convinced the US and the EU about the issue, but its efforts did not yield any results, due to the refusal of Ankara and the then Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, who expressed the position that the return of Famagusta should take place within the overall solution of the Cyprus problem.
“In the event of a Cyprus solution, President Anastasiades has claimed and expects, among other, the return at first stage, of the fenced area of Famagusta to its lawful inhabitants from the first day of the implementation of the solution” he said.
Referring to Ankara`s actions in the Turkish occupied areas of Cyprus, (through the water connection, eventually through an electricity transfer, or with the establishment of a coordinating office for youth connected to Turkey), Kasoulides said that they cause great concern as regards Ankara`s true intentions in Cyprus.
The water shortage problem in the Turkish occupied areas, he said, could be easily solved with two desalination units, but instead, Turkey chose to further control the occupied areas through a water connection with mainland Turkey, noting that the water supply can not cover the needs of the occupied areas.
The most worrying development, he added, is the imposition by Ankara for the establishment of a coordinating office for the youth in the occupied areas, that will be administrated by Turkey. Its aim, the Foreign Minister pointed out, is obvious and it includes propaganda and proselytism, that would turn the Turkish Cypriot secular youth to the Islamic principles advocated by the ruling Turkish AKP party.
Famagusta, after its occupation by Turkish troops on 16 August 1974 and after having been looted, was sealed off and since no one is allowed to enter the town. The term “ghost town” was coined by Swedish journalist Jan-Olof Bengtsson, who visited the Swedish UN battalion in the Famagusta port and gazing at the sealed off town, wrote in Kvallsposten (24.9.1977): “ The asphalt on the roads has cracked in the warm sun and along the sidewalks bushes are growing. Today-September 1977- the breakfast tables are still set, the laundry still hanging and the lamps still burning. Varosha is a ghost town.”
The UN Security Council adopted on 11 May 1984 resolution 550, which considers attempts to settle any part of Varosha (the fenced off area of Famagusta) by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the United Nations.
The return of Famagusta to the United Nations as a buffer zone for resettlement is also requested by Security Council resolution 789 of 1992.