Cypriot President calls for U.S. intervention in Cyprus

12:27 22/5/2021 - Πηγή: Armynow

President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiadis, called on U.S. President Joe Biden to take a more leading role in resolving the Cyprus issue in a letter he sent earlier in the week.

Anastasiadis had sent separate letters

to the NATO Security Council and the European Union in the same week, Cypriot newspaper Phileleftheros reported on Wednesday.

Biden is still the one leader who could work effectively with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the Cyprus matter, Anastasiades told Cypriot television network Antenna, according to Phileleftheros.

Biden is both interested in a solution and has good relations, the Cypriot president said. “He would not abandon the effort to resolve the Cyprus problem.”

The letter included details on how the recent Geneva talks unfolded, and explained why Greek Cypriots were not accepting the position of the Turks, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources.

Anastasiadis has also written to U.N. Secretary General António Guterres and proposed a joint meeting among himself, Guterres and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar to find common ground. However, he has yet to receive a response, Phileleftheros said.

The United Nations was most recently involved in the five-party meetings held on the Cyprus issue in Geneva in late April.

U.S. Representative Nicole Malliotakis earlier in May introduced a House resolution calling on Biden to make Cyprus a top priority in foreign policy. In the resolution the members of Congress are calling on Biden to condemn what they called Turkey’s “illegal occupation” in the northern third of the Mediterranean island.

Turkey’s proposal to resolve the matter in a two-state solution with Greeks and Turks both controlling independent states in the island is not accepted by any member state of the European Union, Anastasiadis said, and could “open the Pandora’s box with consequences in multiple countries” if it ever came to pass.

Erdoğan’s position on the matter is “unacceptable, uncompromising and negative”, the Cypriot president said.

The island of Cyprus has remained divided since a Greek-backed coup triggered Turkey sending troops in 1974 and occupying the northern third of the island to protect Turkish Cypriots. The breakaway state, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, is recognised in the international arena only by Turkey, while the Greek-organised south of the island enjoys international recognition and EU membership.

There have been several attempts to reconcile the two sides, including the famed Annan Plan, which, despite garnering 65 percent support from Turkish Cypriots, failed to materialise because only 24 percent of the Greek Cypriots approved the plan.

Source: ahvalnews.com

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