By Evie Androu
Acting President and House Speaker Yiannakis Omirou on Saturday sent protest letters to the President of the European Parliament, the Presidents of EU members’ national parliaments, and the heads of organisations of which the Cypriot parliament is a member, asking them to condemn the pipeline project in the north.
Omirou called on the institutions to exert influence on Turkey to respect Cyprus’ sovereignty and refrain from actions that violate international law and undermine the ongoing efforts to reach a settlement to the Cyprus problem.
“The construction of the underwater pipeline connecting Turkey with the occupied areas constitutes a blatant violation of international law and relevant UN resolutions but also the laws of the Republic of Cyprus,” the letter said.
It added that “the project aims to further consolidate the de facto situation brought by the 1974 Turkish invasion and to incorporate the occupied areas into Turkey.”
Omirou said that the Turkish action during an especially crucial phase in the negotiating process “are not only disheartening but underline the country’s absolute disregard for international law and shows its long-standing intransigence on the Cyprus problem.”
He said the participation of the Turkish President and Prime Minister in the events revealed the political motives in view of the November 1 elections in Turkey. Omirou added that the Turkish assertion that the pipeline could solve the water shortage in the whole of Cyprus was “totally unfounded”.
“It is therefore evident that Ankara’s sole purpose is to further consolidate its absolute control and suffocating influence on every aspect in the occupied areas,” the letter said.
The inauguration triggered the ire of political parties who said the project further tightened Turkey’s grip on the breakaway regime.
The spokesman of main opposition party, AKEL, George Loukaides, said that the project was in violation of the sovereign rights of the Republic.
He added that most importantly, the absolute control of the project from Turkey under the ongoing occupation conditions was a new fait accompli that exacerbated dependency and the gradual integration of the occupied areas into Turkey.
“The negative development is a reaffirmation of the need to find a solution as soon as possible to rid us of the occupation. Only this will alleviate the negative aspects and then it will benefit the whole of Cyprus to transport water from Turkey,” he said.
The head of Citizens Alliance, Giorgos Lillikas, said that it was a blatantly illegal act which essentially would lead to the annexation of the occupied areas by Turkey “and if the next step will be to transfer electricity from Turkey to the north, the annexation will be more easily effected”, he said.
Lillikas also blamed the government for turning a blind eye during the construction of the project, “in order to maintain a good climate” but they “remembered two days before the inauguration to protest with a painless announcement”.
He said that the Cyprus problem will not be solved simply by showing unilateral goodwill.
Democratic Party DIKO also criticised the government whose policies they said “exonerate Turkey and give it the pretext that it is a contributing party to the settlement of the Cyprus issue”. DIKO said the whole project proved that Ankara had not abandoned its “decades-long expressed intentions to control Cyprus”.
Agriculture Minister Nicos Kouyialis described the project as an illegal and an arbitrary move, which only strengthens the Turkish Cypriots’ dependence on Ankara.