Turkey holding back efforts to solve Cyprus problem: defence minister

Turkey’s expansionist aspirations are holding back efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem, in addition to maintaining security, peace and stability in the wider region, Defence Minister Michalis Giorgallas said on Sunday.

Speaking at a memorial service for Eoka hero Evagoras Pallikaridis, he said “the acceptance and maintenance of the status quo, as a result of the Turkish invasion and the ongoing occupation, aggravates the faits accomplis and causes new ones”.

This, he added, has “the effect of making it even more difficult to resolve the Cyprus problem on the basis of the agreed framework and the relevant UN resolutions”.

He said efforts to solve the problem are aimed at achieving a solution without occupying troops, foreign guarantees.

A solution, he said, “that will make our country a reunited, free and modern European state,”. To this end, we must do everything possible, with the active involvement of the European Union, to break the deadlock and create the conditions for the resumption of dialogue.

Referring to the position of the president that the active involvement of the EU will be a decisive factor in breaking the deadlock and resuming talks, he stressed that “a necessary condition is the demonstration of the required will on the part of the other side”.

The minister further stated that “Turkey’s persistence and its expansionist aspirations are unfortunately a brake on the effort to resolve the Cyprus problem, but also on the preservation of security, peace and stability in the wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean”.