The search for a solution to the Cyprus problem is not served by “policies of isolation or wise words”, House President Annita Demetriou said on Tuesday, with efforts both in Cyprus and abroad ramping up with the aim of bringing about a resumption of negotiations in earnest.

She told her party, Disy’s annual event to mark the anniversary of Turkey’s invasion of the island that both United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ “new initiative” and the European Commission’s appointment of Raffaele Fitto as its Cyprus problem envoy are “important”.

As such, she said, a “new window of diplomatic mobility is being created”.

“We do not have the right to not take it. We must be present, reliable, and constructive, persistently presenting our positions and demands,” she said

She added that “at this critical juncture for the Cyprus issue, our party is ready to stand its ground”.

“We will not be part of easy rhetoric or cheap criticism. We will support every effort which serves our national goal and strengthens the international position of the Republic of Cyprus,” she said.

In line with this, she said that her party’s position “is not built on easy slogans”, but on “strategy, seriousness, and consistency”.

“The goal remains singular and non-negotiable: the liberation of Cyprus and the reunification of our homeland into a state with one sovereignty, one citizenship, and one international personality, which will operate in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations and the principles and values of the European Union,” she said.

Disy’s position, she said, is to “demand the truth about every missing person, justice for war crimes, the return of the displaced to their ancestral homes, the protection of our cultural and religious heritage”, and “a free and reunited Cyprus, without occupying troops, without anachronistic guarantees, and without intervention rights”.

She then made reference to the party’s founder, late president Glafcos Clerides, who was initially installed as acting president after the fall of the Greek-backed military junta in July 1974, saying that “in the most difficult moments of the modern history of Cyprus, he chose the path of responsibility instead of populism”.

“At a moment when Cyprus was counting its wounds, with thousands of displaced struggling to rebuild their lives, with families still searching for their loved ones on the lists of missing persons and with democracy deeply wounded, Glafcos Clerides put the burden of the homeland upon his shoulders,” she said.

She added that Clerides had worked “with composure, with insight, and with a sense of responsibility”.

“And so, Disy was founded in 1976, to unite, house, and express those who believed that Cyprus could rise again. It was created not to seize power, but to serve the homeland,” she said.