Today’s 29th grievous anniversary of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence of the secessionist entity in the Turkish-occupied areas of the Republic of Cyprus, in 1983, demonstrates the continuing rigid intransigence of Turkey as an occupying power to abide by Resolutions 541 (1983) and 550 (1984) of the United Nations Security Council. It should be noted that with these Resolutions, the international community in its entirety, strongly condemned this declaration as legally invalid, while calling for its withdrawal and calling upon all states to respect the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and unity of the Republic of Cyprus.
These calls by the international community continue to be fully respected by all states worldwide: the unremitting and persistent efforts of Turkey and of its subordinate local administration in the occupied territories to secure recognition yielded absolutely no results, since the pseudo-state has not been granted such recognition by any state except Turkey.
The continuation, however, of the illegal Turkish occupation of part of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, of Turkish actions to upgrade the status of the pseudo-state and of the rhetoric and policies of both Ankara and the current leader of the Turkish Cypriot community on the existence of “two states” and “two peoples” in Cyprus, indisputably prove that their real intent is not to achieve a just and viable solution of the Cyprus problem, which will lead to the peaceful reunification of Cyprus, its people and its institutions. Quite the contrary, these actions make it clear that their unwavering objective remains the consolidation of the unacceptable and illegal partition of Cyprus.
The Cyprus Government remains firmly and irrevocably committed to finding a solution, which will be based on international law, the UN Charter, the Resolutions on Cyprus by the Security Council, the 1977 and 1979 High-Level Agreements, as well as the principles and values on which the European Union is based on. A solution for a State of Cyprus with a single sovereignty and international personality and a single citizenship, with its independence and territorial integrity safeguarded, and comprising two politically equal communities as described in the relevant Security Council Resolutions, in a bi-communal and bi-zonal federation, excluding union in whole or in part with any other country or any form of partition or secession. A solution that will ensure the unity of the Cypriot state and safeguard the interests of the Cypriot people, as a whole, as well as their inalienable human rights and fundamental freedoms.