The Cyprus Question| A brief Introduction 7 Excerpts from the speech by the President of the Republic, Mr Nikos Christodoulides before the House of Representatives, on 28 February 2023 The empty seats of the Turkish-Cypriot members in this room (the House of Representatives) bear witness, among many other things, to the mutilation that our state has suffered. A mutilation that does not permit the true establishment of conditions of peace and security, or of the implementation of the fundamental freedoms and human rights of all Cypriots. It is for this reason that I wish today to repeat before you my pledge that my top priority will be the solution of the Cyprus problem within the agreed framework, in order that our country can at last become a reunified, free, contemporary, European state, a common land of prosperity and security for all its legal citizens, without discrimination. Naturally, I have no illusions. I am aware that all my predecessors, whose names I recall with respect, gave the same pledge: The first President, Archbishop Makarios, Spyros Kyprianou, George Vasiliou, Glafcos Clerides, Tassos Papadopoulos, Demetris Christofias, and the outgoing President, Nicos Anastasiades. They all left the Presidency without achieving the sincere dream of freedom and reunification for our country, despite their heartfelt desire to achieve this goal. The reason for the failure to achieve reunification was that the demands of the Turkish side went beyond our own limits and beyond the limits that democracy and human rights impose on every modern democratic country and its citizens. Despite the compromises made over the years by our side. Even after the historic compromise of the acceptance of a Bizonal Bicommunal federation, Turkish maximalism has not permitted any effort to bear fruit in a way that would safeguard the interests of all the legal citizens of the island and no one else. Of course, this does not mean that our side never made any mistakes or omissions. Last week I had my first unofficial meeting with the Turkish-Cypriot leader. I expressed to him my clear position that the current state of affairs cannot constitute the solution to the Cyprus problem and that I will do all that is humanly possible to create those conditions that will lead to a reopening of the dialogue based on the agreed framework for a solution of a Bizonal Bicommunal Federation. I also conveyed my sincere desire for a dialogue to the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General. In the next few days, I will undertake initiatives, based on the positions I developed before the election, in order to break the deadlock, to ensure that the EU will be involved in a leading role at the highest level, always in the framework of the good services of the UN SG.
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