Nicolaou: Turkey has not Demonstrated Necessary Will for Cyprus Settlement
21:40 - 23 Ιανουαρίου 2017
Turkey has not yet demonstrated the necessary will in order to able to reach a viable and functioning solution to the Cyprus problem, Minister of Justice and Public Order Ionas Nicolaou has said.
Speaking at the funeral of Eleftherios Ioannides, a Greek Cypriot who went missing during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, and whose remains have been exhumed and identified through the DNA method, Nicolaou assured of the "honest and good will" of the Greek Cypriot side to reach a Cyprus settlement, which, as he said, the President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades maintains in coordination with the Greek government.
The Minister added that the aim is to reach a solution based on the EU principles, which will respond to the desire for a reunited country without any occupation troops, in which conditions of "peaceful coexistence with our Turkish Cypriot compatriots will prevail."
Referring to the issue of missing persons, Nicolaou pointed to Turkey’s obligation, as the occupation force, to allow excavations in the military areas in the northern, Turkish-occupied part of the island, without any restrictions, the Cyprus News Agency reports.
Furthermore, he noted that Ankara must give access to its military archives, where information for people who went missing in 1974 can be found, and provide details for the relocation of remains that took place in the occupied part of the island.