In a last bid to prevent Turkey’s imminent move on Varosha, Nicosia calls for personal interventions by leaders of the five permanent UN Security Council member countries. Especially by US President Joe Biden.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s has threatened to reopen Varosha, a beach resort abandoned by Greek Cypriots fleeing Turkey’s invasion in 1974, on July 20.
He is to visit the Turkish-held breakaway northern part of Cyprus on July 20 – the anniversary of the bloody invasion.
Erdogan and the Turkish Cypriot leadership in the north are also calling for a “two-state” solution in divided Cyprus.
Nicosia’s focus is on Biden but also on other important leaders such as French President Emanuel Macron and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Lavorv was recently contacted by Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides, who is currently in Brussels as part of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting.
On the sidelines of the Council, Christodoulides will have a meeting with his French counterpart to discuss Varosha in view of the fact that his country now holds the Presidency position in the Security Council.
On October 6, 2020, Turkey re-opened the beach in Varosha, the fenced-in area of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus which Turkey has occupied since 1974.
This action violates United Nations resolutions and international treaties to which the US and Turkey are signatories.
In particular, Turkey is in direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions 550 (1984) and 789 (1992) that address the transfer of this area to the United Nations and the 1979 High Level Agreement between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities that stated that priority should be given to the resettlement of Famagusta, of which Varosha is a subdivision, under UN auspices.
During the past year, Erdogan and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar have spoken openly about their support of a “two-state” solution regarding Cyprus and the permanent partition of the island.