Cyprus
Christodoulides: fenced-off Famagusta is the most important confidence-building measure and a first step towards a solution
President Christodoulides called the sealed-off quarter of Famagusta the most important confidence-building measure and a first step towards a Cyprus settlement, CNA reported.
President Nikos Christodoulides called the fenced-off area of Famagusta the most important confidence-building measure (CBM) and a first step towards a solution of the Cyprus problem, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported on 28 October, citing remarks he made on Tuesday evening.
According to the state news agency, the President described the return of the sealed-off quarter as the strongest sign of a genuine willingness to reach a settlement and to reunify the island. The full CNA text is available only to subscribers, so the wording beyond that summary, and the setting of the remarks, could not be confirmed.
What the fenced-off area is
The area is the southern quarter of Famagusta, known as Varosha, which has been closed off by the Turkish army since the 1974 invasion. A Republic of Cyprus government publication on Famagusta says the town had 37,000 Greek Cypriot residents who were forced to flee in 1974. UN Security Council Resolution 550 (1984) calls attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants “inadmissible” and asks for the area to be transferred to UN administration. The legal background is set out in Varosha explained: the fenced-off Famagusta quarter and the UN.
The remarks come in the week of the Nicosia meeting between Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman, held ahead of the visit of the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, María Ángela Holguín. After that meeting the President spoke of a “very good and constructive discussion” that is to continue during her stay, as we reported in Christodoulides after meeting Erhürman: “very good and constructive discussion” to continue during UN envoy Holguín’s visit. Formal negotiations have not resumed.
What the Greek Cypriot side is asking for
The Cypriot government has for years put the return of Famagusta to its lawful inhabitants at the head of its proposed CBMs. The latest CNA summary repeats that line without announcing a new initiative, and no response from the Turkish side to the remarks was available at the time of writing. Turkey, which keeps troops in the occupied north and is the only state to recognise the 1983 secession, has not carried out the UN demands on Varosha.
