The active involvement of the EU, both in breaking the deadlock and in resolving the Cyprus issue, is of imperative importance, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday, adding that it is with restrained optimism that we see that the initiative we have undertaken is receiving international recognition and that an effort has begun for its implementation.

In a memorial speech at the commemoration of the fallen and missing soldiers and citizens during the 1974 Turkish invasion, of the Municipality of Aglantzia, the President said that the current unacceptable status quo does not allow any citizen of the island to enjoy the rights, freedoms and well-being that all other citizens in the European Union take for granted.

He said that today's unacceptable status quo constitutes, among other things, a permanent source of disturbance and insecurity and in no case should we be complacent.

The President emphasized that this bitter situation we are experiencing should definitively be terminated. He said that there is no other option and no other path, than to end the occupation, to reunite our homeland and finally bring peace to our land.

President Christodoulides said that our goal and expectation is, through a meaningful dialogue to be resumed where it left off in the summer of 2017, to hand over to future generations a homeland without occupation troops and foreign guarantees, a reunited, modern and European country.

He added that it is within this very context that the leading and active involvement of the EU, both in breaking the deadlock and in resolving the issue, is of imperative importance, and it is in this direction that we have been working since the first day of taking over our duties. He said that we see with moderate optimism that this initiative is receiving international recognition and that an effort has begun to implement it.

The President noted that in this struggle we must all remain united and have consensus and keep a level to the dialogue without calling each other names or use aphorisms.

Cyprus has been divided since the 1974 Turkish invasions. Numerous rounds of talks to reunite the island under a federal roof failed to yield results. The latest round under the UN aegis took place in the summer of 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans Montana.

Source: Cyprus News Agency