Lillikas: July 8 process the only option

FOREIGN Minister George Lillikas said yesterday that there was currently no process which would create the preconditions for the resumption of talks aiming at a Cyprus settlement, other than the July 8 agreement.

He added that the effort of the Greek Cypriot side focused on preventing the agreement from collapsing.

Commenting on remarks by his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul that the Turkish side supported the July 8 agreement, Lillikas said that this statement could not be accepted, unless Gul had not been briefed on recent actions of the Turkish Cypriot side.

Lillikas pointed out that, “if there is good will and if the Turkish Cypriot leadership and the Turkish government have not changed their position on the July 8 agreement, they must show this in practice.”

The Minister did not rule out a meeting with UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, noting that the government’s effort was focused on “not allowing the agreement to collapse, which the Turkish side has sought, but on the contrary, to keep it alive and to implement it. There is no other process alive at this moment or process which could pave the way and create the conditions for the resumption of comprehensive talks for the solution of the Cyprus problem,” he said.

Lillikas added that, “those sincerely interested in progress towards solving the Cyprus problem must join forces now and direct their efforts towards the Turkish side, so that this opportunity is not lost.”

President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat agreed on July 8, 2006, during a meeting in Nicosia to begin a process of bi-communal discussions on issues that affect the day-to-day life of the people and concurrently those that concern substantive issues, both contributing to a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem.

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