For a united, federal Cyprus within a European Federation

Submitted by Xesc Mainzer (Executive Board)

• Acknowledging the fact that Cyprus has been experiencing an inter-communal conflict since the early 1960s, which was further aggravated by the 1974 Turkish invasions;

• Bearing in mind the pain and suffering all communities (Greek, Turkish, Armenian, Latin and Maronite) have endured under the decades-long Cyprus conflict;

• Lamenting the missed opportunities for reconciliation, particularly the 2004 Annan Plan which was supported in a referendum by the Turkish Cypriot community but rejected by the Greek Cypriot community;

• Remembering the long-lasting policy of forced migration of Turkish colonists from the Anatolian peninsula into the occupied Cypriot territories, which is itself endangering the autochthonous identity of the Turkish-Cypriot community;

• Condemning the imperialist attitudes of the Turkish government, which has been doubling down on its provocations during the last decade such as by engaging in illegal fossil fuel extraction in Cypriot waters;

• Alarmed by the recent instances of political repression in the occupied territories, with the detention of protestors, as well as of Greek Cypriot citizens under allegations of espionage;

• Celebrating the prospect of a return to meaningful reunification negotiations after the election of Tufan Erhürman in October 2025 as leader of the Turkish Cypriot community;

• Applauding the over 60 years of efforts by the United Nations in trying to solve the Cyprus issue;

• Supporting the multiple resolutions adopted by the UNSC and UNGA over the years, with particular attention to UNSC resolutions 353, 360 and 367;

• Recognising the work done by civil society organisations on both sides of the Green Line in building common understanding and establishing spaces for encounter and coexistence such as the bi-communal and self-managed House of Cooperation and the municipality of Pyla, both located within the UN buffer zone;

• Remembering that the Cyprus issue has been of interest to JEF Europe since the 1970s as expressed by the adoption of various positions on the matter since, at least, 1978;

• Recalling JEF Europe’s Motion on Cyprus, approved by the February 1978 FC in Strasbourg;

• Further recalling JEF Europe’s Resolution on Cyprus, approved by the March 1994 FC in Rynia;

• Further recalling the joint statement “For a United and Peaceful Cyprus” issued by the European Youth Forum’s political youth organisations, including JEF Europe, in 2017;

JEF Europe, therefore,

1. Calls for the abolition of Article 4 of the Treaty of Guarantee, which in effect means the legal recognition of an imperialist right of intervention by Greece, Türkiye and the United Kingdom over the island of Cyprus;

2. Demands the withdrawal of all foreign armed forces from the island of Cyprus, except for UNFICYP detachments, which in turn should be replaced over time by European Union peacekeeping forces;

3. Further demands the retrocession of the British stratocratic colonies of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, the so-called “Sovereign Base Areas”, back to Cypriot sovereignty;

4. Invites the representatives of the Turkish-Cypriot community to return to the legal institutions of the Republic of Cyprus so that a constituent, federalizing process can be undertaken;

5. Advocates for the establishment of a bicommunal federal republic in Cyprus;

6. Recognises as fundamental the right of people from all Cypriot ethno‑religious communities to freely settle all over the island and to the restitution of their properties as they were before the different instances of forced displacement that took part between 1963 and 1974;

7. Recognises the EU Aid Programme for the Turkish Cypriot community as an effective tool of maintaining the European identity of Cypriots living in the occupied areas, and calls for the budget of the aid programme to be expanded further;

8. Supports the continued suspension of EU law in the occupied territories as a tool for diplomatic pressure towards a negotiated solution to the Cyprus problem.