The talks on the Cyprus problem were
interrupted by the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community Mr Dervish Eroglu
eight months prior to the 2013 Presidential Elections in the Republic of
Cyprus, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Ioannis Kasoulides said today,
explaining that it is, therefore, baseless to claim otherwise.
In his remarks to the press, on the
sidelines of the celebrations for St Maron, the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
invited to comment on remarks made by the UN Secretary General on Cyprus and on
the issue of the interruption of the talks between the two communities on the
Cyprus problem, said that “I have contacted the Republic’s Permanent
Representative to the UN to issue a strong demarche to the Office of the UN
Secretary General for the following reasons:
Firstly, because it is baseless for him
(the UN SG) to claim that the talks were interrupted due to the elections. The
talks were interrupted by Mr Eroglu, eight months prior to the elections, and
under the pretext and his protest with regard to the assumption of the
Presidency of the Council of the European Union by the Republic of Cyprus. Mr
Christofias, as President of the Republic of Cyprus at the time, had stated
publicly that he was eager to continue the talks during the Cyprus Presidency
of the EU Council.
Secondly, a strong demarche will be issued
with regard to the reference by the UN Secretary General on elections in the
Greek Cypriot community (instead of in the Republic of Cyprus).” He added that
the UN Secretary General should be aware of which states are members of the
United Nations.
Replying to a question, Mr Kasoulides said
that “I want to believe that these issues are probably not as clear to him as
they are to those who deal directly with the issues concerning Cyprus. We have
to admit that the UN Secretary General deals with very serious issues of the
moment. If he paid a bit more attention he would have avoided the mistakes. I
do not believe this (the remark by the UN Secretary General) was made on
purpose.”
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