PACE president called on Turkey to abandon its two-state solution

The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Tiny Kox, extended an invite on Friday to President Nikos Christodoulides to speak at a future PACE plenary session.

Christodoulides accepted the invitation, saying that Cyprus will “continue to be a staunch supporter of the work of the Council of Europe”.

Kox said he appreciates the fact that Christodoulides put the Cyprus issue on the agenda of the Council of Europe and expressed his support for “Christodoulides’s vision for a solution”.

Christodoulides also congratulated Kox for the speech he made at the House of Representatives on Thursday.

While at the House, Kox called on Turkey to abandon its two-state solution policy on Cyprus and said that negotiations must resume from where they left off in Crans-Montana back in 2017.

Kox said, “it is unacceptable that we have not been able to resolve the Cyprus issue in the right way for so long, thus maintaining a dangerously frozen conflict in one of our member states, which harms the vital interests of all Cypriot citizens”.

“You don’t have to start over. It would be my humble advice to continue from the efforts of Crans-Montana and the convergences that have been recorded over the years. The Guterres framework is there to serve you and should be reaffirmed”, he said.

He added that a two-state policy “cannot lead to any sustainable solution and is therefore also against the interests of the Turkish Cypriot community” and said a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with political equality seems to him to be the only viable solution on the Cyprus issue.

Aside from his comments on the Cyprus problem, Kox also applauded the efforts made in Cyprus for greater participation of local communities, women, and youth in politics and conflict resolution.

Kox’s presence in Cyprus was not universally well-received, however, with the north’s ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu accusing him of “displaying a biased approach” on the Cyprus problem.

Ertugrulogulu criticised the fact that Kox only met with Greek Cypriot representatives while on the island, saying “it is not possible for any contacts made on the Cyprus issue to be considered ‘complete’ if one only listens to the views of a single side”. He said that Kox’s visit to Cyprus was therefore “incomplete”.

“Treating the Greek Cypriot Administration as the sole legitimate representative of the island is not the right approach and serves the continuation of the status quo on the island”, he said.

He added that “refraining from exchanging views with the Turkish Cypriot people and ignoring their voice is a grave injustice”.