UN Secretary General’s Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq has reiterated that the international organisation has always held firmly the position that it is up to the Cypriot communities to reach a solution and continues to push with that as it has done consistently for the past decades.
Asked how can Cypriots decide on a solution, as the Secretary General says in his recent report, as long as there are Turkish troops in Cyprus, the UN official replied that “without getting into the history of the conflict, we have always held firmly to the position that any solution is up to the Cypriot communities and we continue to push with that, as we have done consistently for the past decades.”
Asked why the Secretary General says nothing about Turkey in his recent report and invited to say if according to the UN and the UNSG Turkey did not invade and occupy illegally part of Cyprus’ land, Haq said “as you know we have had many reports on Cyprus over the years, from the 1970s through to now’ and referred the journalist to all the reports that are “self explanatory and which describe the situation.”
Replying to a question over the wording used in an OSCE glossary for Cyprus journalists in relation to the Secretary General’s report, he reiterated that the language of the UNSG’s reports on Cyprus are self explanatory and independent and separate, apart from the views of the OSCE which is independent of us as he said.
Asked whether the Secretary General would regard Turkish settlements in Cyprus illegal as he does in the case of the West Bank, he said “first of all regarding questions of international law and settlements I would refer you to the relevant UN resolutions, including Security Council resolutions in each of the cases, that is to say the Palestinian matter and the Cyprus matter. The language in each case is what you should refer to.”
He also repeated that “there is a range of Secretary General`s reports and I can refer you to that language there.”
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
(Cyprus News Agency)
