NICOSIA - President Demetris Christofias said that the evaluation of Turkey’s EU accession course in December provides Turkey with the opportunity to prove that it really wants a solution to the Cyprus problem.
In message on the October 1 anniversary of the island’s independence, Christofias warned that if Turkey continues to provoke the EU by refusing to meet its obligations, it will not be able to continue its accession course unobstructed.
The President said that Cyprus’s support for Turkey’s EU course was a strategic decision, in order to create the dynamics for a solution, noting that a solution should be based on principles and be a product of negotiations and agreement between the two communities.
Christofias referred to the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus, which is “a common success of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.”
“We owe honour and gratitude to those who fought and fell to liberate our homeland, to defend the independence, democracy and territorial integrity of our homeland, all these years,” Christofias said.