Demetriou advocates for resuming Cyprus issue negotiations

Disy leader Annita Demetriou on Thursday conveyed the message that the only possible path is the resumption of Cyprus issue negotiations from the point where they stopped in Crans-Montana, while meeting with the UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy, Maria Angela Holguin.

In statements after her meeting with the UN official at the Disy offices, Demetriou said that “we exchanged views on the current phase of the Cyprus issue, and of course on her mission”.

She added that the two “had the opportunity to express our enduring position to continue efforts to find a solution which will certainly reunite our homeland and ensure the future and well-being of all Cypriots”.

The Disy leader reiterated that the Republic of Cyprus will always refer to a solution “under the auspices of the UN and on the basis of the relevant decisions and resolutions of the UN Security Council.

“Of course, by that we mean a bizonal, bi-communal federation with political equality,” she stressed.

Demetriou said that during the meeting, she and Holguin agreed that “the continuation of the current status quo is dangerous and cannot be the solution to the Cyprus issue, just as of course neither are the unacceptable positions on a two-state solution”.

To this end, she added, Disy stressed that the only possible way towards a viable solution is to restart the negotiations from the point where they stopped in Crans-Montana “based on the parameters of the Guterres plan and all the convergences that had been achieved between the two sides all these years”.

She added that the party shared with Holguin its positions on how Cyprus, as the EU side, as well as the international community, can contribute to the creation of those conditions that will allow the restart of a substantial effort to resolve the Cyprus issue.

Disy also informed the UN official on its actions and initiatives within society and with both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities.

Questioned on Holguin’s approach to the meeting, Demetriou said that the UN official “asked to know how we see things, there were no suggestions on her part on how we can unlock the process”.

In turn, she said, Holguin informed them on her recent contacts in Ankara and her impressions following some of her meetings.

“More than anything, she wanted to see our own positions, what we believe and how we see things, what we collect from the public every day, what is at stake for us,” Demetriou said.

“We explained that the Cyprus problem cannot be read differently from what is happening more widely in our region,” she added.

“There are no frozen conflicts,” she concluded, adding that after 50 years of continuous occupation, “we have no more time to wait without meaning that we can deviate either from the UN resolutions or from our positions or from them which concern the Republic of Cyprus itself, the Greek Cypriot side”.