President Nikos Christodoulides invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to work together, guided by a vision of peace, to build a brighter future for Cyprus.
Addressing Wednesday’s 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Christodoulides stressed that “working towards peace in Cyprus is my absolute priority, and he wanted to send a personal message to President Erdogan.
“Cyprus and Turkey are neighbours, bound by geography.
“Peace in Cyprus will not only send a resounding message of peace in a region and a world that desperately needs it.
“It will also change the geopolitical map of our neighbourhood, with a ripple effect in Europe, the wider Eastern Mediterranean, and throughout EU-Turkey relations.
“Gunboat diplomacy and strong-arm tactics belong to the past.
“They are not the tools of visionary leaders.
“Mr Erdogan, let us work together, guided by a vision of peace.
“Let us build a brighter future for our countries through dialogue and respect of international legality.”
Christodoulides said, “It is high time for the UN to become a driving force of dialogue by appointing, as a first step, an envoy on the Cyprus problem to explore and prepare the ground for the resumption of negotiations.”
He assured that he stands ready “to negotiate boldly and courageously on the Cyprus question, in good faith, always within the agreed UN framework and in full respect of the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions.
“At a time when international legality is under attack, international law, the UN Security Council Resolutions must prevail.
“A comprehensive settlement that will allow them to prosper in coexistence and peace, free of anachronistic dependencies and system of guarantees that have no place in a European country.
He said preserving the previous round is essential to resuming peace negotiations based on the agreed framework.
“There is not, and there will never be, another basis for the settlement of the Cyprus question other than that dictated by the United Nations Security Council resolutions.
“The United Nations and its Secretary General have the responsibility, prescribed in the UN Charter, to act as catalysts for peace in Cyprus.
“In doing so, it can be facilitated by the European Union, which also has the tools necessary and which has expressed its commitment to deliver to reunify its last divided member state.
“The Union can and must act decisively, with all means at its disposal, to drive reunification of its last divided member state, and in doing so contribute to peace in Europe.
