Resolving the Cyprus problem requires that the rule of law, not the rule of force, prevails, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Theodoros Roussopoulos has said.

The Cyprus issue was among the topics discussed by Roussopoulos and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a meeting at the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York.

“Organisations like the UN and the Council of Europe are there [in Cyprus] to enforce the rule of law and not the rule of force,” Roussopoulos stressed, adding that he aimed to further strengthen the relations between the Council of Europe and the UN.

“There is slowly a belief on the planet that the strong are the ones who will impose their point of view,” he told the Cyprus News Agency, adding that this was one of his main concerns in regard to the Cyprus problem.

Pointing to Turkey and the US, he said that “under no circumstances should anyone accept – and we certainly do not accept it in the Council of Europe, but also as Greeks – that the law of force will prevail.”

Roussopoulos also met with UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo to discuss the Cyprus issue, from the Crans-Montana talks in 2010 to her recent visit in February and the upcoming Geneva meeting. He said DiCarlo assured him she would continue working towards a just solution.