The Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos responded to his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu’s suggestions of splitting Cyprus, should the Greek Cypriot side continue to “monopolize” the natural gas fields. Mr. Avramopoulos explained that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots must be left to decide on their own upon a unified Cyprus.
The Greek politician also stressed that any new Cypriot state that arises will be a continuation of the current Cypriot Republic, as established by the 1960 agreements, rather than a brand new one. Mr. Avramopoulos rejected the Turkish proposal for a four-sided convention because “it violated the essential and nonnegotiable principle of independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Cypriot Republic”, while adding that such negotiations in the past have proven to be sources of further conflict instead of resolve.
Mr. Avramopoulos reiterated the Greek stance of sing the 1977 and 1979 agreements of a two-zone, two-community country with a single sovereignty and citizenship as a basis for solving the Cypriot problem. Mr. Avramopoulos added that “in a unified Cyprus, all citizens would benefit from the natural resources”.
Mr. Avramopoulos also noted that Cyprus and Greece have territorial claims based of the UN convention on Maritime law and International Law. The Foreign Affairs Minister also warned Turkey of not banking on the current financial state of Greece and Cyprus, as situations can change rapidly.
