President hopes for talks momentum in September

President Nikos Christodoulides hopes that at next month’s UN General Assembly in New York, there will be developments in resuming Cyprus reunification talks from where they collapsed in 2017 at Crans Montana.

Addressing an Assia anti-occupation event in Nicosia on Monday evening, President Christodoulides said he had a very constructive meeting with the UN official Miroslav Jenča, who indicated the Secretary-General’s commitment to the resumption of talks.

He also hoped that during September at the UN General Assembly, there would be developments in the direction of resuming negotiations.

President Christodoulides said, “We must proceed with actions at the Dikomo village landfill” regarding Assia’s missing persons.

The remains of 70 missing persons from Assia are believed to be buried in a landfill in the Turkish-occupied village of Dikomo.

They were killed in the area of Ornithi, and then it is believed their remains were transferred and buried in the landfill in the 1990s.

“Under no circumstances will we come to terms with the occupation; we will not come to terms with the justified sadness and the faits-accomplis of the occupation.

“We are working ceaselessly for a solution based on the United Nations resolutions, compatible with the principles and values of the EU.

“The Republic of Cyprus is a member state of the EU and will continue to be even after an eventual solution to the Cyprus problem.

“A functional and sustainable solution for a state with one sovereignty, one international personality and one citizenship, without occupying armies and guarantees.”