Sakellaropoulou says Cyprus is top foreign issue priority in meeting with Christodoulides
“The Cyprus issue is a constant concern and a top national priority of Greek foreign policy,” the President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou said on Monday, welcoming the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides to the Presidential Mansion on his first official visit to Athens after assuming his new duties.
Sakellaropoulou congratulated Christodoulides and wished him every success in his demanding work, underlining at the same time that his visit to Athens is overshadowed by the train accident, which cost the lives of so many young people, including two Cypriot students, and she expressed her sincere condolences.
“I would like to emphasize once again that the Cyprus issue is a constant concern and a top national priority of Greek foreign policy. A guarantee of effectiveness for this matter and its resolution is the close cooperation and coordination of Greece with the Republic of Cyprus, both bilaterally and at the multilateral regional level, which has already made our countries a guarantee and a source of security and stability in Eastern Mediterranean,” Sakellaropoulou noted.
She also pointed out that “the common goal of our countries, as always, is that of reaching an agreed solution based on the decisions of the United Nations Security Council. A solution that will ensure the liberation of Cyprus from the anachronistic system of guarantees and the right to intervene in Cypriot affairs, as well as the withdrawal of the occupation troops and, of course, the application of the European Union’s acquis communautaire throughout Cyprus.”
On his part, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, after thanking Sakellaropoulou for her warm welcome and wishes, conveyed his deepest condolences on behalf of the Cypriot people for the tragic incident in Tempe.
As he pointed out “Greece and Cyprus, Cyprus and Greece are mourning and it is the responsibility of all of us, who are in positions of power, and the best memorial for all those who lost their lives unjustly, to do whatever is possible so that such incidents do not happen again.”
“We will do everything humanly possible to break through the deadlock, to achieve the goal of liberating and reuniting Cyprus on the basis of the agreed framework. And it is within this context that we believe that the European Union can play a decisive role,” he underlined.
Christodoulides also noted that “the Republic of Cyprus is a member state of the European Union and will continue to be so even after a possible solution to the Cyprus issue. The European Union has all those incentives to lead to a mutually acceptable state of affairs.” [AMNA]
