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Cyprus Issue Must be Resolved in Line With U.N. Resolutions
Greece Sunday reiterated that the Cyprus issue must be resolved on the basis of the U.N. resolutions.
"For us, a solution will either be just and viable and will be based on U.N. resolutions for a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, or will not be at all," Foreign Minister George Papandreou said in a statement on the 40th anniversary of Cyprus' independence.
Papandreou stated that the credibility and effectiveness of the U.N. and the international community were today being judged.
Repeating Greece's support for Cyprus' efforts for a just solution, the minister said that in this struggle, Greek Cypriots were not alone and Greece was with them.
Cyprus has been divided into the Greek Cypriot-controlled south and the Turkish Cypriot-dominated north since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and occupied the northern one-third of the island in the wake of a failed coup seeking union with Athens.
Greece and Cyprus have insisted that the eastern Mediterranean island be reunited in a federation formula in line with the U.N. resolutions, but Turkey and northern Cyprus led by Rauf Denktash demand that a confederation formed by two sovereign states be set up on the island.
Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides and Denktash have held several rounds of the U.N.-sponsored indirect talks in New York and Geneva, but no breakthrough has been made so far mainly due to Denktash's demand for the recognition of northern Cyprus, which illegally declared independence in 1983 and has been only recognized by Turkey.
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