South Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, addressing a Congress of the Diocese of Constantia-Ammochostos in Paralimni last night, said that the return of the ghost town of Maras/Varosha was a priority and not a slogan, and could potentially be “the knife that will cut the Gordian Knot” of the Cyprus problem, ‘Cyprus Mail’ reports.
Anastasaides said that the current economic situation in the South did not undermine his wish to solve the Cyprus problem. “The Cyprus problem was, is and will remain the top priority,” he said.
The return of Varosha would be a positive and significant step towards a solution. “With the return of Famagusta, we will be able to build our trust towards Turkey,” he added.
“The Famagusta priority is not a slogan, nor a figure of speech without contents. It is, perhaps, the knife that will cut the Gordian Knot of the pending Cyprus problem,” the President said, observing that everyone involved in the debate understood this.
He went on to assure his audience that he would be tireless in his efforts to see Varosha returned. The UN Under-secretary General, Jeffrey Feltman in his meeting with the president had agreed to the significance of this move and to the implementation of confidence building measure, Anastasiades stated.
He also said during his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, she had been positive on the matter.
“At the same time, I do not want to build up excessive expectations and false hopes either to the people of Famagusta or the people of Cyprus. I acknowledge the difficulties and obstacles raised by the Turkish side. But we will continue to demand the return of our beloved town,” Anastasiades concluded.
