N. ANASTASIADES: The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Greece and I had a very useful and important discussion. There was a mutual briefing on the meetings that we and the Deputy Prime Minister have had, and at the same time we discussed ways to better harmonize our efforts, so that our common pursuit can bring the best results.
I must express my utter gratification at the support we are getting from the Greek government, and particularly at the assistance I received, personally, and the assistance received by Cyprus in general, through Mr. Venizelos talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu. I think that the critical multilateral consultations that are taking place will help us toward what we are pursuing: a well-prepared dialogue’s becoming a reality. That is, for everyone to realize that it is not a matter of when the dialogue starts, but how it starts and how well-prepared it is, so that there can be a ray of light and hope that we won’t have just another dialogue like the ones in the past, which led nowhere.
E. VENIZELOS: I thank the President of the Republic of Cyprus for his briefing on the meeting he and my colleague Mr. Kasoulides have had here in New York. We did the same. There is total mutual briefing and coordination. We support the efforts and proposals the President has made to create a new momentum, a new opportunity, a new dynamic for a viable, just solution to the Cyprus issue, which, as we always stress, must be in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council and compatible with the European acquis – and it has to be accepted by the Cypriot people, who will express themselves through a referendum on their future, on the future of the Republic of Cyprus. I think that this mode of cooperation is bearing fruit. And this was apparent from everything that has happened up until now, as well as from everything that happened here in New York.
Our position, precisely as it has been formulated through our consultations, is very clear. We are prepared, on the level to be determined, to meet with the negotiator for the Turkish Cypriot community. Just as the Turkish government has said it is prepared to talk to the negotiator for the Greek Cypriot community. I repeat, as I said yesterday, that the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities are provided for under the 1960 Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, which is in effect. And negotiators have been appointed at other times, in the past.
For us, what is important is to safeguard the international legal personality, the existence and unity of the Republic of Cyprus, which is a sovereign member state of the UN and a member of the EU, and is represented by its President, Nicos Anastasiades, who is taking all these new initiatives of which you are fully apprised.
September 25, 2013