Starting tomorrow morning, the decisions taken by the Republic of Cyprus regarding the issue of Turkish violations in the buffer zone will be implemented, the President of the Republic, Mr. Nikos Christodoulidis, said this evening.
In his statements to journalists, attending an event of the American Chamber of Commerce of Cyprus, and to a journalist’s observation that there was a new tension tonight in the dead zone in Agios Dometios, while the 24-hour deadline he referred to yesterday has expired, and when asked if there is anything new, the President of the Republic said that “the information we have from the United Nations is that they are continuing the efforts. What I want to mention in continuation of what I mentioned yesterday, is that from tomorrow morning the decisions taken by the Republic of Cyprus will be implemented.
I said that the decisions will not be made public, some of them will be visible, some will not be visible.”
He added that “this is a serious violation.
The National Guard, the Republic of Cyprus, we decided the way to react. Starting tomorrow morning, this method will be implemented, unless there are – and I hope there will be – developments in the effort that the UN is continuing.”
When asked if the international community has been informed about the events, the President of the Republic said “of course the Permanent Members of the Security Council and at the EU level have also been informed”.
Asked to comment on statements from the Turkish side that the dead zone is linked to the territorial one and will be subject to negotiation, the President of the Republic said that “it is a known Turkish approach that is always put on the negotiation table from the Turkish side, a position that lacks any seriousness, is unworthy of comment”.
Asked if these events cause further obstacles to the UN Secretary-General’s effort to appoint an envoy for the Cyprus issue, President Christodoulidis said that “all these developments prove the need, prove that there is more need for the appointment of an envoy and one of the reasons – there are many – this tension is being attempted to prevent any attempt to restart talks. The attitude of the Turkish side is known, they are afraid to come to the negotiating table with such unacceptable positions that are not accepted by anyone, but this is one of the goals they are trying to serve.”
