House President Annita Demetriou on Wednesday called for unity amongst Greek Cypriots to bring about a solution to the Cyprus problem, as she addressed the extraordinary parliamentary session called to mark the anniversary of the Greek junta-backed coup d’état of 1974.

“Forgetting cannot be an option for us. When the homeland continues to live the consequences of betrayal and occupation, memory becomes a responsibility,” she said, after the House had held its minute silence in commemoration.

Turkey, she said, “has for 52 years been implementing a systematic policy of settlement in the occupied territories, seeking to alter the demography, toponyms, and the cultural and religious character of the place, while attempting to overturn the status of the enclosed area of [Varosha] and the buffer zone”.

“To overturn the facts of the occupation, a stable choice is the adherence to international law, the leverage of the status of the Republic of Cyprus as a European Union member state, and the adherence to the United Nations’ framework,” she said.

She made reference to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ “new initiative”, which is being undertaken with the aim of bringing about a resumption of negotiations in earnest, and said that this effort “should neither be underestimated, nor ignored”.

“Everyone must work constructively to break the deadlock and resume substantive negotiations,” she said, before warning that with Guterres’ term in office set to expire at the end of the year, a lack of progress in the coming months could create “uncertainty”.

“It should be made clear to Turkey by its European partners that it cannot make demands from the European Union without achieving substantial progress on the Cyprus issue,” she said, adding that “this should be a common line between Greece and Cyprus”.

On this matter, she also said she welcomes the appointment of Raffaele Fitto as the EU’s envoy in Cyprus, and that “the European presence adds momentum to the new UN effort”.

“The Greek Cypriot side is ready for a new effort to find a solution on the basis of the [UN] security council’s resolutions and the principles and values of the EU. One sovereignty, one citizenship, and one international personality are non-negotiable principles,” she said.

She then called for “unity, unanimity, and serious preparation” to be undertaken in advance of the forthcoming predicted developments on the Cyprus problem.

“We are all together, in the same boat. The liberation and reunification of our homeland is the responsibility of all of us … We want a free Cyprus, safe for all its legal residents, a modern model of cooperation and stability in the eastern Mediterranean, a state which embodies European democratic principles and values through its operation,” she said.