Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet and President of Conservative Friends of Cyprus, has described President Erdogan’s visit to Varosha yesterday as “disgraceful” and “provocative”.
This morning she was in contact with both the Cyprus High Commissioner to the UK, His Excellency Mr Andreas Kakouris, and the Foreign Secretary to discuss the situation.
Following those discussions, Ms Villiers said “The visit of Mr Erdogan for a ‘picnic’ in Varosha was disgraceful. This highly provocative act by the President of Turkey has made it even less likely that there will be a resumption of the UN sponsored negotiations for a settlement.”
“The UN Secretary General has indicated that he would be prepared to convene a conference with the two sides and the three guarantor powers ‘if the atmosphere is conducive’. But meeting this condition is far less likely after the events of this weekend. It looks like Turkey is deliberately trying to harm attempts to bring the two sides together.”
“Turkey’s recent decision to re-open the beachfront at Varosha was also completely unacceptable and violates numerous UN resolutions. This morning Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, confirmed to me that that the UK Government had raised their objections to this in ‘strong and clear terms’”.
Ms Villiers continued, “Turkey’s repeated violation of the Cyprus EEZ is inconsistent with basic international norms showing that the Mr Erdogan’s Government is acting in a way which increasingly beyond the pale.”
Responding to reports that the new Turkish Cypriot leadership want different constitutional options to be on the table if talks resume, Theresa Villiers concluded: “A solution in Cyprus must be based on the internationally accepted framework of a bizonal, bicommunal, federal state with a single sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international personality. Attempts by the Turkish side to abandon this long-established framework should be strongly resisted by the international community.”
