During a ceremony yesterday in Nicosia naming him an honorary citizen of Cyprus, Greece’s President Prokopis Pavlopoulos repeated the long held view that Morphou must return to Greek Cypriot control as a fundamental condition to any future settlement on the Cyprus issue.
President Pavlopoulos was critical of the fact that the Cyprus issue was still unresolved describing it as ‘’Shameful, not just for those that invaded the island but also for the international community and the European Union itself,’’ and insisted that the whole notion of 'guarantor' forces on the island was an anachronism that could not be sustainable as it was incompatible with the modern definition of state sovereignty as defined under international and European law.
Pavlopoulos went on to rule out any form of confederation as had been proposed in the past arguing that it would be contrary to European law, noting that Cyprus can only take the form of a federation with a "single international legal identity erga omnes".
Present at the ceremony was Morphou Mayor Haralambos Pittas and was also attended by Cyprus House Speaker Demetris Syllouris, Cyprus Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos, Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus (representing the metropolitan of Morphou), political party leaders and representatives and Cyprus Attorney General Costas Clerides.
