Your Excellency
the Secretary-General of the United Nations,

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you, your spouse and the members of your delegation to Cyprus.

Since 1964, the United Nations has been dealing with the problem of Cyprus. Foreign interventions, together with inter-communal strife, led to the forcible division of our country in 1974.

We are grateful that the United Nations Security Council, acting on the principles of international law, has determined the basis for a bizonal, bicommunal federal solution with political equality, as set out in the relevant Security Council resolutions, with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship. This is the basis to which Mehmet Ali Talat and myself, as leaders of the two communities, have agreed. We are deeply grateful for the United Nations support for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Cyprus and the restoration of the rights and freedoms of the people of Cyprus.

We are thankful to you, Mr. Secretary-General, because under your auspices, in the framework of the good offices mission, the two communities are again at the negotiating table in order to work together to reach a mutually agreed and peaceful solution.

As you are well aware, Mr. Secretary-General, upon my assumption of the office of President, I immediately took initiatives that led to the recommencement of the talks between the two communities.

Throughout this process, we have shown good will and flexibility, whilst upholding the principles and agreed basis of the solution, provided for by the resolutions of the United Nations and the 1977 and 1979 High Level Agreements. Our aim is the reunification of this country: the people, the institutions, the economy, and to ensure that United Federal Republic of Cyprus will be a functional and viable state, able to work effectively as a member state of the European Union.

We greatly appreciate your personal interest and the understanding you have shown from the very beginning, that the ownership of this process belongs to the Cypriots themselves, that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, and that the role of the United Nations is to facilitate this process. This must be consistently upheld, bearing in mind the lessons of the recent past as regards mediation and arbitration which led to bitter experiences and severe problems.

This of course does not mean that we do not value the role of the international community. After all, a key player in the Cyprus problem is Turkey, which since the 1974 invasion has maintained thousands of troops in the occupied area and has altered the demographic structure of the Turkish Cypriot community and of Cyprus as a whole with tens of thousands of Turkish nationals.

That the Cyprus problem is an international issue is also underlined by the fact that it has been on the agenda of the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations for so many years, with consistent efforts to end the anomalous situation.

Our aim is for these negotiations to succeed. After a year and a half, we have arrived at a point where more convergences must be achieved on the various chapters of the problem, in order to open the road for a solution as soon as possible. Nevertheless, we must admit that there are important chapters which have not even been touched upon, or which have not been sufficiently discussed.

Allow me, Mr. Secretary-General, to welcome you once more. Your presence here is an honour for us, and we are grateful to you. On behalf of our people allow me, once more, to reassure you that I will spare no effort in striving to overcome all obstacles and finally reach a solution: a viable, functional and, under the circumstances, just solution, to which both communities will agree, so as to rid the agenda of the United Nations of this long-standing problem.

Furthermore, allow me to assure you, Mr. Secretary-General of the support of the Republic of Cyprus for the United Nations and for you personally in your efforts to address worldwide urgent problems such as poverty, climate change, hunger and natural disasters. I wish you every success in your endeavours in this respect.

May peace and cooperation be the way of life in Cyprus. I raise my glass to the health of the Secretary-General and Mrs. Ban Ki-moon and to the success of the United Nations.