Refugees’ right of return not negotiable

PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias yesterday said that the Greek Cypriot side expected the Turkish Cypriot side to respect the right of the refugees to decide what to do with their own properties.

Christofias said this in a lecture he was giving on the future of the Cypriot-Serbian relations at the faculty of Political Science of the University of Belgrade in Serbia. He referred to the direct talks for a Cyprus settlement and the issue of properties, noting that ”our position is clear, the rights of the displaced to their properties is sine qua non.”

”These rights are safeguarded through international and European treaties, international law and the decisions of international courts of law. We are defending this principle and we expect the Turkish Cypriot community to respect, in its proper dimension, the right of the legal owners of property to decide if they wish to resettle in their property, exchange it for another property or get compensation,” he pointed out.

President Christofias said it has been clarified with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat that the basis of a solution will provide for a bizonal bicommunal federation with a single citizenship, sovereignty and international identity, with political equality, as set out in UN resolutions. Turkey, he noted, wants the creation of two states in Cyprus.

Christofias also met Serbian PM Mirko Cvetkovic yesterday and addressed the Cyprus – Serbia business forum organised by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce in the presence of businesspeople from Serbia as well as a delegation of the Cypriot Chamber of Commerce and Industry(KEVE) headed by its President Manthos Mavrommatis.

Christofias yesterday concluded his two-day visit to Serbia .He was accompanied by the ministers of Foreign Affairs Marcos Kyprianou and Commerce Antonis Paschalides.

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