UN General Assembly
1997

We have been uninterruptedly implementing a long- term strategy for the protection of the environment while sharing with the international community the belief that Agenda 21 can be implemented only through a sense of common responsibility. However, the major environmental problems of our planet cannot be successfully tackled if socio-economic ills such as poverty are not combatted and eradicated. Since the last session of the General Assembly, the prospect of a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem has, regrettably, remained elusive. For 23 years now Turkey has maintained more than 35,000 occupation troops on the island, blatantly defying international law. At the same time, the Turkish Cypriot population, for the protection of which the invasion was allegedly undertaken, has dwindled dramatically since 1974, due to political oppression coupled with the massive influx of settlers from mainland Turkey. The Government of Greece aims at a reunited Cyprus, a common home to all of its inhabitants. We maintain that a settlement on the basis of the resolutions of the United Nations and the high- level agreements of