In a written announcement, Chairman of the Cyprus EU Association Mr Ali Erel spilled the beans on recent calls in the north of Cyprus by some politicians to maintain Turkey’s Guaranteeship. Referring to the Guarantees and Alliance Treaties of the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus of 1960, Erel noted that the security of the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities is not a direct issue in the content of the Guarantees Treaty. Erel noted: “The Treaty and the Guarantors could not safeguard the security of the Turkish Cypriot community who were compelled to live under very poor conditions between 1963 and 1974. In 1974 Turkey militarily intervened under the provision to “take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs created by the Treaty”. It is hard to say that the security of hundreds for thousands of Greek Cypriots living in the northern part of Cyprus and tens of thousands of Turkish Cypriots living in the southern part were simultaneously secured and the state of affairs was re-established by the Turkish intervention.” Erel also raised further questions about Turkey’s intervention: “The new state of affairs created by this operation has been declared unacceptable and illegal by the UN Security Council resolutions and the European Court of Human Rights judgements. In 2008, it is still hard to say that the simultaneous and parallel security needs of both communities are safeguarded.”

The Association asked that the arrangement of the security issue that will be found in the solution must be different from the current one at the Guarantees Treaty. The Association also asked that the need for a new arrangement must be accepted to meet the needs of the two communities. Erel wrote: “If an acceptable solution by both communities is to be found, the new security arrangement should be different. “An arrangement where the right to “re-establishing the state of affairs” could not be abused and its only success is not to safeguard the security and strategic interests of the Guarantors, is a must and cannot be overlooked for the sake of the communities living in Cyprus,” he said. Erel continued that a new arrangement must meet the simultaneous and parallel security of both communities and the red lines in the negotiations taking place in aim of finding a solution to the Cyprus problem should be to the satisfaction of the interests and security needs of both communities.”