Turkey's illegal actions in Famagusta constitute an unacceptable provocation, Defence Minister Charalambos Petrides said in a speech delivered on Sunday at the unveiling ceremony of the bust of Commander Lieutenant Commander Georgios Melifronidis. The unveiling ceremony was organised by the Pancyprian Reserve Ranger Association and the hero's family, near the Macedonitissa Mound, in Nicosia.
We remain firmly committed to efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and the principles and values of the EU. We declare to the international community our readiness to resume talks through a sincere dialogue in order to reach an agreed and just solution for the reunification of our homeland. He added that the current leadership of Ankara is projecting an intransigent stance based on its new revisionist policy with neo-Ottoman ambitions, thus violating every concept of international law. It is systematically undermining any initiatives undertaken for the re-engagement and resumption of talks, instrumentalizing the migration crisis and at the same time seeking to create new fait accompli both in Cyprus and in the wider Eastern Mediterranean and the Greek area, he pointed out.
Turkey's new illegal actions by opening another part of the beach in the enclosed city of Famagusta constitute a highly unacceptable provocation, he stressed, adding that the Government will never stop fighting with all diplomatic means in order to effectively counter Turkish provocations.
It is a national duty and obligation of all of us to fight with all our forces, united, to prevent the fait accompli of the invasion and occupation in order to achieve liberation, peace, security and prosperity in the land we were born and stood up to defend so as to be worthy of our heroes, he said.
Petrides attended the unveiling of the bust of the hero Lieutenant Commander Georgios Melifronidis, who was born on 7 May 1955 in the village of Orunda in the Nicosia district. His parents relocated to Famagusta in 1958. On July 22, 1974, in the area of Agios Georgios Kyrenia, sixty-nine officers and private commandos, including Georgios Melifronidis, fell or are still missing, the Ministry of Defence said.
Source: KYPE
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