Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 08-06-14

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] GOVERNMENT SC RESOLUTION

[02] CYPRUS LISBON TREATY IRELAND

[03] COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER LUXEMBOURG MEETINGS

[04] INTERIOR MINISTER IMMIGRATION POLICY

[01] GOVERNMENT SC RESOLUTION

In a statement, Permanent Representative of Cyprus at the UN, Ambassador Andreas Mavroyiannis praised the members of the Security Council for adopting a balanced resolution and for their support to the ongoing efforts in Cyprus in order to move towards a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem.

We are particularly happy that the Security Council reconfirmed the basis of the sought after solution of the Cyprus problem in a clear and unequivocal manner. Therefore, we are ready to work hand in hand both with the members of the Security Council the Secretary-General and his representatives in order to do our utmost for moving the process forward, he said.

Invited to comment on Security Council President and US Permanent Representative Zalmay Khalilzads statement, Mavroyiannis said the resolution very, very clearly reaffirms the basis of the sought after solution in Cyprus as a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality as set out in relevant Security Council Resolutions. This text, he added, is exactly the same as in previous resolutions, therefore we stand by it, we support it and we have no difficulty whatsoever.

He noted that there was one difficulty recently due to the fact that the Turkish side was trying to give a different interpretation of the meaning of the definition of the sought after solution and we are happy that the Security Council very, very clearly stated that the sought after solution stays what it was.

Mavroyiannis expressed the view that Ambassador Khalilzad made an additional statement in his national capacity in order to accommodate some specific concerns that were raised by the Turkish side recently. But as far as I understand he always stated and it was in his statement that everything should be in conformity with Security Council Resolutions.

Invited to say what was the point that Turkey was raising and he had objected, Mavroyiannis replied that Turkey was trying to put in the resolution some kind of an interpretation of the basis of the sought after solution where we would take two or 3 of the elements of the sought after solution which were in the 23rd of May joint statement and put them in the text of the resolution.

The reason we couldnt go along with this was that this is just a partial elaboration of the basis of the sought after solution and we dont want to enter into details. We need to stay in the framework as defined throughout the years and of course there is nothing in the commitments we have undertaken, that President (Demetris) Christofias has undertaken recently for which we dont stand by. We stand by all our commitments as they were taken by President Christofias, he added.

Asked if he objects the two foundation states that are going to get together to form a new partnership, Mavroyiannis said No, this is the Turkish interpretation. Nowhere, in no text there is mention of that. The joint statement talks about a partnership state but it does not say and we cannot accept that using that interpretation by Turkey that we are going to head towards two sovereign and separate states coming together in a loose union. This is not what the statement says and this is not our position. Our position is that we have a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation of course you will have two constituent states but nowhere it says that those states are going to be separate and sovereign and that they will have separate sovereignty which would mean recognition of the so called TRNC before we have a solution.

He also said that political equality is a notion, which was very clearly defined by the Secretary-General in 1991 and it was approved by Security Council resolutions and we stand 100% by what was in those resolutions. What is it? It is that we are going to have a federation composed by two equal constituent states, with equal rights not equal numerical participation of the two communities but effective participation of the two communities in the running of the federal government and we stand by this definition and dont change one iota.

Mavroyiannis said the government stands by the definition of political equality as was said in the Report of the Secretary-General in 1991 and repeated in all Security Council resolutions. However he underlined that what we cannot accept is that the Turkish side comes now and tells us, no its a new partnership, its a partnership between two sovereign states and so we need to recognize TRNC and those two states will come together to form a loose union. This is not what is in the resolution and this is something we cannot go along. We cannot accept to put on an equal footing the Republic of Cyprus and the so-called TRNC, the Cypriot diplomat underlined.

Discussions continue between Cypriot experts at the seven technical committees and the six working groups, which deal with issues such as governance, the economy, territory and property. These committees have been set up after the 21 April meeting between President Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

The objective of the committees is to prepare the ground for substantive negotiations between the two community leaders, leading to a comprehensive settlement, which will reunite Cyprus, divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion.

Christofias and Talat are expected to meet again in the second half of June and examine the results of the progress and determine whether to start fully-fledged negotiations.

[02] CYPRUS LISBON TREATY IRELAND

Government Spokesman Stephanos Stephanou, made the statement on Saturday, commenting on the result of Fridays vote on the treaty, which is designed to streamline the European Union. Ireland was the only member state to hold a referendum on the matter. It rejected the Treaty by 53.4 per cent to 46.6 per cent. The remaining 26 EU countries, including Cyprus, are ratifying it through their parliaments.

We express the conviction that through dialogue, and a feeling of responsibility, without hasty moves or reactions, the EU, collectively, will handle the situation in a manner which will take into consideration the views expressed through democratic procedures, the Cypriot Spokesman said.

He told reporters that the government of Demetris Christofias will respect the decision of former President Tassos Papadopoulos whereby the Treaty is scheduled for ratification by the House of Representatives on 3 July. Stephanou said there is a procedure already underway at the Parliament and the President has many times said that he will honour the signature of the former President on the specific Treaty.

[03] COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER LUXEMBOURG MEETINGS

The ministers met on the sidelines of the two-day Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council meeting. The meeting confirmed the very good relations and cooperation between the two countries on transport issues. Nicolaides also met Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media and Matthias Ruete, New Director-General of DG Energy and Transport.

The European officials praised the effectiveness showed by Cyprus in implementing community law in the fields of transport and telecommunications and underlined its role in the wider region in maritime and air transport issues.

[04] INTERIOR MINISTER IMMIGRATION POLICY

Addressing a seminar entitled ``EU Immigration Policy and Cyprus`` with the participation of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), Silikiotis recalled that the government is unable to control its sea borders in the Turkish occupied areas of Cyprus since 1974, which results to increasing flows of immigrants who are directed to the areas under the control of the Republic through the 180 kilometre-long cease fire line.

``These persons, which comprise the 99 per cent of the immigrants arriving in Cyprus, reach the occupied areas from Turkey, while an important number arrives by small vessels directly from the Syrian coasts or until recently via the illegal ferry boat connection between Syria`s coastal town of Latakia and occupied Famagusta,`` Silikiotis noted. The Cypriot Minister also said that according to EU figures, Cyprus ranks first regarding asylum applications in the EU in relation to its population.

``Currently 8,000 asylum applications, concerning 10,000 persons, are pending in Asylum Agency while new applications are submitted every year,`` Silikiots added, noting that ``the third country (non EU member-states) subjects residing in Cyprus either legally or not consist the 25 per cent of Cypriot population.`` ``We must proceed to adopt and implement in Cyprus a single immigration policy which would be in a position to face the challenges and the opportunities created by immigration to our country,`` he added.

According to the Minister of the Interior, the main component of this policy should be the accession of the legal immigrants in the society, noting that Cypriots should be aware that accepting these immigrants to the society does not remove their rights.

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