The meeting of the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades with the Secretary of State of the United States of America Mike Pompeo was held last weekend at the Presidential Palace.

After the meeting, in his speech to the media, the President addressed his guest and audience with words:

“Dear Mike, your visit at a time when important events are taking place in the Eastern Mediterranean due to the illegal actions of Turkey, accurately demonstrates the sincere concern and interest of the United States in preserving stability in our region.

As we have already said, this illegal activity, despite repeated calls to Ankara to refrain from provocative actions, must stop immediately.

In this context, I expressed my deep appreciation to the U.S. Government for its firm position condemning Turkey’s illegal drilling activities within our exclusive economic zone and for its full support for Cyprus’s unimpeded exercise of its sovereign rights to explore and exploit its natural resources.

I also expressed our full support for the U.S. position that any disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean should be resolved through dialogue rather than through canon diplomacy.

In connection with the above, I have informed the Secretary of State of our readiness to delimit our maritime zones with Turkey north and west of Cyprus either through bilateral negotiations or by recourse to the International Court of Justice.

As expected, we also discussed recent developments regarding the Cyprus problem, during which I reaffirmed in the strongest terms my commitment to the resumption of the negotiation process that was interrupted in Crans-Montana.

However, it is clear that in order to resume negotiations in good faith, it is necessary that Turkey stop its aggressive and provocative actions not only in our exclusive economic zone, but also with regard to Varosha.

To this end, I called on the Secretary of State to take a proactive stance and make every effort to prevent Turkey from taking any illegal action against the neutral territory, Varosha, as this is a violation of international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions”.

The President of the Republic also noted the strengthening of relations between the two countries and cited, as an example, the recent decision of the United Nations Security Council. Washington, D.C. on the partial lifting of the U.S. arms embargo on Cyprus (September 1, Pompeo announced the decision of the U.S. to temporarily lift export controls on direct commercial sales of non-lethal defense products and services to the Republic of Cyprus).

Mike Pompeo also noted that talks with the President focused on the rapidly growing diplomatic security cooperation and economic partnership between the United States and the Republic of Cyprus. And he added that “our relationship has never been better and I am proud of it”.

The U.S. Secretary of State also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides.

The memorandum provides for the establishment of a training center in Larnaca, which will be called the Cyprus Centre for Land, Open Seas and Port Security (CYCLOPS). Cyprus mail has written about this. It will be nationally owned and has already received initial funding from the U.S. government.

The center will provide training in the handling and storage of hazardous chemical and biological materials, maritime port security, as well as cybersecurity and border control.

During the meeting, Pompeo also denounced Turkey’s illegal exploration in the coastal waters of Cyprus and added that the island’s resources should be fairly divided between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, adding that the U.S. would continue its efforts to reunify the island as a bizonal, bicommunal federation.