The initiative by the UN Secretary-General, the EU’s more active involvement, the appointment of a European Commission envoy, and the linking of progress in EU-Turkey relations to the Cyprus issue, together form a new political environment, said Government Spokesperson Konstantinos Letympiotis, assuring that the Government will continue to seize every opportunity to resolve our national problem.

In his commemorative address on Sunday at the national memorial service for the heroes of Germasogeia—Panagiotis Tsangaris, Trofimos Koulles, Evangelos Georgios, and Sofronis Sofroniou, and during a prayer for news of the fate of the missing Christakis Agathokleous, the Government Spokesperson stated that no people can effectively demand their liberation and reunification unless they first forge their unity.

“At a time when the United Nations Secretary-General’s initiative is underway, we remain fully committed to our efforts to resume substantive negotiations,” he continued, noting that “with clear political will and assertive realism, we will continue to make use of every diplomatic tool, every possibility, and every window of opportunity.”

In addition, he said that the UN Secretary-General’s initiative, the European Union’s more active involvement, the appointment of a European Commission envoy for the Cyprus issue, and the “clear” link between progress in EU-Turkey relations and the Cyprus issue, together constitute a new political environment.

“Two important international pillars—the United Nations and the European Union—are being activated in parallel and operate in a complementary manner,” he continued, noting that “this development is not a coincidence,” but “the result of our persistent diplomatic efforts and a consistent strategy by President Christodoulides, who seeks to mobilize all available international and European levers toward a solution.”

We have, he emphasized, absolute confidence in our right, in the strength of our arguments, in the legitimacy of our claims, and in the universal demand for respect for and enforcement of human rights.

At the same time, Mr. Letympiotis added, “we have deep faith in the great prospects of this country once it is freed from occupation,” and he sent a message in every direction that “we are fighting for the liberation of our homeland and will not settle for anything less than a solution to the Cyprus problem that will make our country a modern, normal European state.” “A state in which all citizens will enjoy the same self-evident rights as every citizen of a modern European state,” he added.

He also emphasized that “the solution to the Cyprus problem will be in accordance with the agreed framework set forth in the United Nations Security Council resolutions and compatible with international law, the principles, values, the acquis communautaire, and European Union law,” and added that “occupation has no place in international law, and anachronistic guarantees have no place in 21st-century Europe.”

Among other things, he said that those who bet on the status quo “did not take into account the resilience of a people who refuse to give up,” and “those who believed that the Cyprus issue would be sidelined failed to take into account the persistence and strategy of the Republic of Cyprus.” “And those who believe that the power of arms can forever prevail over justice forget that peoples who know what they are defending may be wounded, may be tested, but they cannot be defeated,” he added.

In today’s call to action, the Government Spokesperson continued, our heroes are not absent, and today history calls on us to prove ourselves worthy of their sacrifice and “not to consign to oblivion a single inch of land, a single name, or a single missing person. Let us march forward united, until the paths of return open once more, until our churches ring out freely.”

Memory may be painful, he noted, but “it becomes a responsibility, it transforms into strength, and when that responsibility becomes a collective consciousness, no obstacle can break a people who know their rights, honor their heroes, and believe in their homeland—a people who do not forget and who continue to fight.”

“When history calls, Cyprus will always answer, ‘Present, present with the memory of its heroes, until liberation,’” concluded the Government Spokesperson in his commemorative speech, after which he laid a wreath on behalf of the Government.

Source: CNA