Nicosia, 12/10/10

The GUE/NGL Study Days commenced today, in Nicosia, Cyprus, hosted by AKEL. The first session was dedicated to the discussion of the Cyprus problem, with GUE/NGL MEPs being thoroughly briefed by the Secretary General of AKEL Andros Kyprianou about the respective current developments.

Mr Kyprianou thanked the GUE/NGL for its continuous support for the efforts of the Cypriot people and President Demetris Christofias, in reaching a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem.

GUE/ NGL, as Mr. Kyprianou remarked, “constitutes one of the most significant friends of Cyprus, an ambassador of our struggles to reach a viable, operative and just solution of a bicommunal, bizonal federation, with political equality as prescribed by the relevant UN Security Council Resolution, and in conformity with International and European law”. He recalled that it is of utmost importance to support the ongoing direct negotiations between the leaders of the two communities, and that the divisive rhetoric of Mr. Eroglu, "two separate states, two people and two democracies" should be abandoned, for the sake of the future of our country and people.

The President of the GUE/NGL group, Lothar Bisky (Germany), stated that the group has put special emphasis on discussing the Cyprus problem, to help efforts to find a comprehensive solution. He also praised the fact that both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are participating in this session of the study days; which symbolizes the cooperation between the two communities. The President of the group called for the Turkish Cypriot side to show good will in dealing with the most difficult questions of the Cyprus problem, adhering to the core principles of international law and the UN Resolutions.  Referring to the EU Commission proposal for a direct trade regulation with the Turkish Cypriot community, he declared that GUE/NGL will take all necessary initiatives to prevent the occurrence of any negative development; more precisely he explained that the adoption of this proposal will hinder and damage efforts to find a solution.

Willy Meyer, GUE/NGL MEP (Spain), praised the efforts and initiatives of President Christofias as brilliant and noted that his proposals offer an opportunity to exit the current difficult stage of the negotiations. He repeated that the EU should be more demanding and supportive of the proposals of the Republic of Cyprus; at the same time the EU should promote, through positive measures, the rapprochement of the two communities. He underlined that the EU should exert pressure on Turkey in order to end the occupation of territories of the Republic and abandon all policies altering the demographic character of the island. “If Turkey wants to finally become a full EU member, it should terminate its occupation of Cyprus”.

Following the first part of this session, Toumazos Tsielepis, a member of the negotiating team and of the C.C. of AKEL, as well as Aristos Damianou member of the working groups and of the C.C. of AKEL presented some more details on the negotiations to the GUE/NGL. 

At the end of the morning GUE/NGL was received by the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias at the Presidential House.

GUE/NGL PRESS CONTACT
Nicosia:
Gianfranco Battistini + 32 475 64 66 28
Brussels:
David Lundy + 32 485 50 58 12
Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20
Sonja Giese (DE) + 32 486 94 50 21
www.guengl.eu