President Nicos Anastasiades has said that it would be impossible to reach a solution if there was an insistence on guarantees and foreign military in Cyprus. The Greek Cypriots would not accept this, he said.
“We are facing critical developments and significant dilemmas,” he said at a formal dinner on Friday night in New York hosted by the Federation of Cypriot American Organisations before his meeting on Sunday with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President Mustafa Akinci.
Also attending the dinner were Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, Greek Cypriot FM Ioannis Kasoulides, south Cyprus government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides and other top officials from south Cyprus and Greece.
Briefing those at the dinner as to what he had said at the UN General Assembly on Thursday and what he would say to the UNSG on Sunday, he noted that there was a combination of progress and impasse in the talks.
“There are problems that if not resolved means it might not be possible to arrive at an acceptable solution, which meets the concerns of the Greek Cypriots,” he said. “What we seek is to achieve a solution which respects the rights of all Cypriots in a way that does not create winners or losers.”
Security for the Turkish Cypriots would be provided by the constitution of a new bi-zonal federal Cyprus, he said. The constituent communities would have their own administration but it would not be possible to disregard the power held by the central government.
“So I do not see why some should insist that Turkey continue to maintain even a minimum number of troops and how it should have guarantee rights,” he emphasised.
“In a modern European state it cannot be expected that European citizens would want others to guarantee them. It must be understood by all those involved and wanting to help solve the Cyprus problem, that the Cyprus issue should not be exploited to accommodate wider interests.”
In a brief address, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias added that a solution could not include guarantees and foreign troops. “We must work for a just solution with all human rights respected and where Cyprus will be an independent, sovereign country with no foreign guarantees and occupation armies,” he said.
Cyprus Mail
