WRITTEN DECLARATION No. 140
of 23 July 1986
on unity between the Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus

The undersigned, members of the Assembly,

Recalling the important role Cyprus, as a member of the European family, has always played, in its long and varied history, in the maintenance of peace and security in the Eastern Mediterranean;

Recalling too the series of sad political and constitutional developments and events that have marred the island's stability and sovereign integrity since it achieved full independence in 1960 with a power-sharing constitution purporting to guarantee fair and reasonable rights and responsibilities both to the ethnic Greek and the ethnic Turkish communities in the island;

Commending all those personalities and institutions in Cyprus and outside, most particularly the Secretary General of the United Nations, that have striven to secure reconciliation between the two now geographically, as well as culturally, divided communities;

Congratulating especially the unremitting, patient efforts of the UN Secretary General to achieve renewed unity between the two communities within a federal framework acceptable to both;

Regretting that nevertheless all such initiatives have proved fruitless; including the latest compromise proposals put forward by Dr. Perez de Cuellar in a new draft framework dated 29 March 1986; accepted in toto by representatives of the minority Turkish community, but refused by the representatives of the majority Greek Cypriot community;

Urges, despite his understandable sense of frustration, the UN Secretary General to make one more final attempt to reach a settlement;

Urges meanwhile the appropriate institutions within the Council of Europe to study urgently the practical possibilities of elected representatives of both the communities of Cyprus to attend plenary sessions and relevant committees of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to enable a genuine dialogue to take place within the only democratic, international forum embracing all countries of Western Europe, in an atmosphere provenly well suited to the achievement of reconciliation between differing members of the European family entity.

Signed:
BENNETT
BJORCK
SMITH
CLOSE
VALLEIX
WARD
KITTELMANN
GIUST
FINSBERG
HOESS
ARESPACOCHAGA
TABONE
HILL
LIED