The government should do everything in its power and insist on resumption of negotiations, House speaker and Disy leader Annita Demetriou said on Monday.
Elsewhere, the party’s former leader and present Disy MP Averof Neophytou issued a written statement, calling on President Nikos Christodoulides to convince the international community of his decisiveness in solving the Cyprus issue.
Demetriou made her statements in Parliament to Greek and Slovenian MPs and municipal authorities, who had participated on Sunday in an anti-occupation march in Morphou during a “twinned cities” event.
Current developments in the Middle East made it imperative to intensify efforts and initiatives to resolve the Cyprus issue, she said, and 50 years had already passed of continued occupation.
It is important to showcase what is still happening on the territory of the Republic and “emphasise the need for peace, human rights, security, and prosperity”. The Republic can become a catalyst for stability and perspective, she added.
Referencing Christodoulides’ visit to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, on his way to New York for a three-way meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the House speaker said that “even if the omens are not particularly auspicious, we must work and we are doing everything in our power […] so the president […] will have our support.”
For his part, addressing the president in a written statement ahead of the meeting in New York, Neophytou said, “The lot fell to you [Christodoulides]. You have the unique chance to approach the meeting decisively and convince the international community that you wish to pursue not just [a] negotiation but a solution through action [with a] a specific and [tight] timeframe.”
The support of all the parties towards the president had been rightly granted, Neophytou said, however, two sticking points remained which mar any optimistic speculations.
These were the fact that on the one hand the Greek Cypriot parties have declared their readiness to pick up from where the Crans-Montana negotiations left off, while simultaneously [Turkish Cypriot leader] Tatar insists that a separate administration and two states is the prerequisite for talks, he said.
If these positions hold true, then “anyone with understanding of [the situation] can see we are headed for a wall,” the Disy MP said.
He added that the EU would never accept a two-state solution.
On October 15 it will be incumbent upon the president to exercise a strong will and “correctly evaluate and take advantage of any new ideas or approaches tabled”, Neophytou said.
“We either get into solution procedures or we will live through the most tragic outcome, with the gradual ascent of the pseudo state out of international […] isolation, and [with the] settlement of Varosha and acquisition of part of the green line.”
