“The Greek Government has always and today eminently considered the Cyprus issue as a first national priority,” the Foreign Minister, Giorgos Gerapetritis, speaking to the homogeneous Cosmos FM radio station in New York.

Specifically, he said that “our national conscience dictates that in every circumstance we will invest the greatest effort of all in moving forward the effort for the reunification of the island within the framework of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions and Resolutions.”

Referring to the talks on the Cyprus problem under the auspices of the UN, Gerapetritis expressed his optimism, while stressing that it is unthinkable in today’s era, when there are so many challenges, so many armed conflicts, so many divisions, Cyprus remains divided.

He noted that a great effort was made on the part of the Secretary General to move these discussions forward with steady steps and it was noted that in four out of six chapters, which Greece had put forward as first measures in Geneva in March, there was positive news.

“So to a satisfactory extent I think that steps have been taken. Four more chapters have been added to the list of these positive measures and it was agreed that in the next period first the two leaders will meet here in New York, in the framework of the UN General Assembly next September, under the Secretary General, and then towards the end of the year, in the last quarter of the year, there will be a new five-party meeting,” Gerapetritis said.

Libya

On developments with Libya, he said that the issues were now stirred up because of the initiative taken by the Greek government in releasing a Marine Spatial Planning, “which covered the potential Greek continental shelf, the whole of the continental shelf and the Greek Exclusive Economic Zone. So, a major delimitation on the part of Greece, which is now part of the European acquis, because it was notified to the European Commission.” And the second, as the Foreign Minister said, was “that we have announced plots for exploitation, which are within this Exclusive Economic Zone, following interest expressed by an American giant, Chevron.”

He clarified that the contracts given by the Libyans do not violate the Greek shelf and the Greek Exclusive Economic Zone.

“The Libyans, in other words, seem to have respected the middle line, as the Greek state understands it. This is extremely important, because anyone can have a perception, which can be maximalist, of the potential continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zone.

But everything is decided in the field. And Libya, the contracts it gave are within its own Exclusive Economic Zone based on Greece’s understanding. So below the median line, south of the median line, as we understand it. So we have no case of violation,” he said.

He called the Turkish-Libyan memorandum invalid and unsubstantiated , because it came from an illegitimate government, and also because it was concluded between two countries, which do not have objective coasts between them, they are not neighbours.

“So in no court, in no forum, in no authority can this memorandum stand,” he said, calling on Libya to come forward and on the basis of international law, to have a technical discussion with Greece on the delimitation.

Regarding the Government’s decision to suspend the asylum application for three months, he said that this has a single purpose:

“To give a very strong message, primarily to the traffickers, that there is no point in coming to Crete. This is because it will not be possible to process asylum applications. It has a very important message.

On the other hand, it has a transitional character. It is for three months, so that in this three-month period we can establish a relationship with Libya and through the cooperation of the Coast Guard and the Hellenic Navy we will be able to zero these flows.”