The support of the Democratic Party to the initiatives of the President of the Republic to restart the process of resolving the Cyprus problem was expressed by the president of the party, Nikolas Papadopoulos, after the session of the National Council.
As he mentioned, the members of the National Council were informed by the President of the Republic about the contacts he made, as well as about the possible next steps in the efforts to resolve the Cyprus issue.
Mr. Papadopoulos stated that DIKO supports the initiatives being taken so that the Secretary General of the United Nations convenes as soon as possible a new enlarged international conference, expressing the hope that this will be a “conference of substance” and will lead to the announcement of the resumption of negotiations based on the agreed framework and the relevant resolutions of the United Nations.
At the same time, he underlined the decisive role that the European Union can play, noting that, through the discussions concerning Euro-Turkish relations, it has the ability both to exert pressure on Turkey and to offer the necessary incentives, so that the Turkish side approaches the talks with a constructive attitude.
According to the president of DIKO, the aim is for the Turkish side to abandon the intransigent positions which, as he said, are preventing the resumption of negotiations.
Mr. Papadopoulos also mentioned that both DIKO and other parliamentary parties must take initiatives at the European level, in order to strengthen the efforts to exert pressure in this direction and to support the initiatives of the President of the Republic for the resumption of negotiations as soon as possible.