| United Nations |
A/67/491 |
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General Assembly | Distr.: General2 October 2012Original: English | |||
Sixty-sixth session
Agenda item 8
General debate
Letter dated 28 September 2012 from the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations addressed to the President of the General Assembly
I have the honour to enclose herewith the text of the written statement of the delegation of the Republic of Cyprus in exercise of the right to reply to the remarks made by Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, on 28 September 2012, in the General Assembly (see annex).
I should be most grateful if you could have the text of the present letter and its annex circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 8.
(Signed) Nicholas Emiliou
Ambassador
Permanent Representative
Annex to the letter dated 28 September 2012 from the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations addressed to the President of the General Assembly
Statement of the delegation of the Republic of Cyprus in exercise of the right of reply to the remarks made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey on 28 September 2012 in the general debate of the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session
Mr. Davutoğlu called theCyprusproblem a “frozen conflict”. Let his country “unfreeze” it by removing its 43,000 troops from the island. He spoke of “inhumane and unlawful embargo” on the Turkish Cypriots. His own Government should end its occupation of the northern part ofCyprus, opening the way for it to once again participate with the rest of the country in all activities of the international community.
Reaching a fair and lasting solution to the Cyprus problem has been the continued aspiration of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus. It has also been our hope thatTurkeywill share our aspiration and actually take practical steps to this end. There is prospect for progress, so long as Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership show the necessary political will and engage constructively and in good faith in the current effort, rather than repeat anachronistic positions relating to processes of the past. The Cyprus problem was and continues to be one of invasion and occupation by Turkey. It, thus, wholly rests on Turkey whether any solution can be achieved.
Finally, Mr. Davutoğlu spoke of risks to regional stability, claiming that the sovereign acts of the Republic of Cyprus are the cause. Yet again conveniently he fails to mention that it is his own country that is showing off its military strength around the island. There is no doubt who puts at risk the stability of the region.
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