Christodoulides accuses Erdogan of hypocrisy in UN address on Cyprus

New York, United States. President Nikos Christodoulides accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of “hypocrisy of the highest form” on Wednesday, saying Turkey’s actions in Cyprus contradicted the principles Erdogan had invoked in his UN General Assembly speech the previous day.

Response to Erdogan’s speech

Christodoulides said Erdogan had referred to international law, state sovereignty and territorial integrity, illegal occupation and the plight of refugees, while quoting extensively from the UN Charter. He said Turkey was doing “exactly the opposite” in Cyprus and that politicians should be judged by their actions rather than their words.

Addressing Erdogan directly, Christodoulides said that anyone citing the Charter should apply it. He said the UN Security Council’s framework for a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality remained the only basis for a comprehensive settlement.

Call to resume negotiations

Christodoulides said he was fully committed to a settlement and ready to resume negotiations from where they ended in 2017, building on work already completed within the agreed UN framework. He said the common ground for talks lay in relevant Security Council resolutions, international law, and the laws, values and principles of the European Union.

He called for political will from all parties and a genuine return to meaningful negotiations. A settlement, he said, would reunify the country and allow Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins to live together in peace, security and prosperity.

Saying that division could not be Cyprus’s future, Christodoulides urged Turkish Cypriots to see a shared future as an opportunity for prosperity. He also called on Erdogan to give the go-ahead for substantive negotiations within the UN-agreed framework.