Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias has stressed that Turkish occupation troops must leave Cyprus and the anachronistic guarantee system must at last be abolished.
In an interview to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, in view of the 6th Trilateral Summit among Cyprus, Greece and Egypt, that will take place in Crete on Wednesday, Kotzias also noted that any solution of the Cyprus problem must settle these two crucial issues in order to be viable and to the benefit of all Cypriots.
Kotzias underlined that “as we successfully pointed out at the Crass Montana Conference, the Cyprus problem is first and foremost an issue of illegal invasion and occupation”. He stressed that Cyprus must become a `normal state` as all other EU and UN member states, recalling that the UN Secretary General himself adopted the term `normal state`.
Referring to the internal aspects of the Cyprus issue, Kotzias noted that “the best way to find a settlement is via direct negotiations between the two communities, with no intervention by third parties.”
As regards the Trilateral Summit among Cyprus, Greece and Egypt, Kotzias said that it is taking place in the framework of a multi-dimensional and active foreign policy, through which Greece and Cyprus have set up six trilateral cooperation mechanisms in the Eastern Mediterranean.
He noted that Greece, Cyprus and Egypt constitute a bulwark against the escalating instability in the region and are working with a view to create conditions that will promote stability in the region.
As regards the issues to be discussed during the Summit, Kotzias said that they concern issues of mutual interest as regional developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, energy issues, telecommunications, irregular migration and cooperation in the fields of education and culture, focusing on the further upgrading of the three countries` cooperation.