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Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcos Kyprianou expressed disappointment on Wednesday over remarks on Tuesday by his Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt concerning Cyprus.
Kyprianou said it was unacceptable to equate the Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus with the exercising of the democratic right of the Cypriots in a referendum, as the one in 2004.
Speaking at Larnaca Airport on his return from Brussels, Kyprianou said ''the least I can say is to express my disappointment over the positions expressed by the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, an official of an EU member state and a representative of the presidency.''
''We expect the country holding the presidency to act and express itself in the framework of community solidarity and based on international law, legality and EU decisions,'' Kyprianou said.
''I consider unacceptable the equation between the invasion and occupation, the violation of international law, of human rights, on the one side, with the exercising of the democratic right in a referendum, as in 2004,'' he said, noting that ''these two are incomparable and cannot be mentioned in the same context.''
He noted that ''the occupation and the Cyprus problem have been created by Turkey, and all the EU member states, as members of the UN, have denounced both the invasion and the declaration of the pseudostate, as well as the continuing occupation.''
Kyprianou said that Turkey bears the main responsibility for the solution of the Cyprus problem and reiterated that the obligations and responsibilities of Turkey are set out and have been adopted by all EU member states.
Regarding Bildt's reference to direct trade, Kyprianou said ''the effort to link the proposal for the so-called direct trade with the fulfillment of Turkey's obligations is a Turkish invention.''
''There has neither been a promise on behalf of the EU on the specific matter, nor a Council decision. There was a decision to support the Turkish Cypriot community with an aim to reunite the island and this has already been implemented with the Green Line Regulation and the funding regulation adopted by the EU with the consent of Cyprus,'' he said.
Kyprianou noted that ''it is unacceptable for the EU to accept that a candidate country will place terms and conditions to meet its own obligations and the presidency should dismiss any such attempt and on the contrary should defend the dignity of the EU.''
Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2004, has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.
