NICOSIA – With unity talks dead for now, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades accused Turkey of further war crimes and moving remains of people missing from an unlawful 1974 invasion.
That came as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who refuses to recognize Cyprus and bars its ships and planes while he wants to get into the European Union – to which the legitimate side of the island belongs – is set to meet with Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras Dec. 7-8 and bring up the dilemma of Cyprus.
In a sharp broadside, Anastasiades said Turkey is deliberately trying to hamper the work of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) which aimed at bringing resolution to the families of the missing on both sides of the island which remains divided.
“We will insist and continue our efforts,” he said at an event for missing persons, the Cyprus Mail reported although he didn’t say what could be done as there is little international interest in the missing any more, apart from families and loved ones.
He said he would also try to end Turkey’s unlawful occupation of the northern third of the island seized 43 years earlier, signaling there’s almost no hope of resuming unity negotiations that broke off in July at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana with Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci after Erdogan said he would never remove an army there and wanted the right to further invade when he felt the need.
“Our goal and aim is to create a state that fully and completely abides by the principles and values of the UN and the EU, in which Cyprus is a full member,” Anastasiades said in the boilerplate platitudes typical of diplomatic talk which signify nothing.
Despite all that he said he told United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who took part in the failed talks and then issued a tepid report blaming nobody for anything, that he’s ready to resume talking, but only on the condition Turkey not keep an army on the island among other demands.
“We need to finally know the positions and not wait until the last moment to see that Turkey’s intransigence remains unchanged,” he added, echoing what Turkey said about him with the two sides at seemingly unfixable loggerheads.
According to data posted on the CMP website, the remains of 637 Greek Cypriot missing persons and 210 Turkish Cypriot missing persons were identified and returned to their families until November, 30, 2017. A total of 873 Greek Cypriots and 282 Turkish Cypriots are still missing.
Anastasiades said he talked on the phone with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras about Erdogan’s visit to Athens where Greece, which along with Turkey and the United Kingdom is a guarantor of security on the island where a UN peacekeeping force keeps the two sides apart, is expected to push for the talks to start again although they’ve failed for decades.
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Source: thenationalherald.com
