Joint statements of Foreign Minister Kotzias and the Foreign Minister of Cyprus, Ioannis Kasoulides, following the meeting of the National Council on Foreign Policy (Foreign Ministry, 25 May 2016)

I. KASOULIDES: It was with great pleasure that, at the invitation of the Foreign Minister of Greece, Nikos Kotzias, I had a unique, innovative meeting today with the representatives of all the parliamentary parties of Greece on issues of foreign policy, during which I briefed them on the process and the progress that has been made and the difficulties in the negotiations on the solution of the Cyprus problem.

I want to tell you that, when we, Greece and Cyprus, achieved the major feat of accession to the European Union, we achieved it, first, thanks to very close cooperation between the governments in Athens and Nicosia, regardless of which party was in power here or there, and we also achieved it because the Hellenic Parliament stood by Cyprus firmly, showing that it was unwilling to ratify any enlargement in the wave of 2004 if it didn’t include Cyprus. So you can understand that now, too, in Cyprus’s efforts to free itself from the Turkish occupation, it can achieve it only in close, brotherly cooperation with Greece, the Greek government, the representatives of the Greek people and the Greek people themselves.

N. KOTZIAS: It is a great pleasure for me to converse with and hear the thoughts of Ioannis Kasoulides. I thank him very much for accepting my invitation to participate in the meeting of the National Council on Foreign Policy, as a follow-up to Mr. Anastasiades’ visit and his meeting with the President and the Prime Minister. We love Cyprus, the occupation wounds us, but we are filled with hope by the common course of Greece and Cyprus.

Thank you.