Jane Holl Lute to return to Cyprus
UN SENIOR official Jane Holl Lute will visit Cyprus again as both sides continue preparations for the “five-plus-UN” informal meeting to be held in Geneva at the end of April.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who received Ms Lute at his office in Ankara on Monday, said in a tweet following the meeting: “[A] sustainable and realistic settlement for the benefit of all parties in Cyprus is cooperation of two states based on sovereign equality.”
Those views were echoed in the TRNC by President Ersin Tatar while receiving members of the Erenköy Freedom Fighters’ Association on Tuesday.
“Turkish Cypriots will never say ‘yes’ to a solution that is imposed,” the President said. Referring to the struggle of the late TRNC founding President Rauf Raif Denktaş, President Tatar said that Mr Denktaş had maintained his view on the need to “always protect our sovereignty”.
Mr Tatar stated that, as one of the two founding partners of the Republic of Cyprus, the Turkish Cypriot people fulfil all the criteria of being a separate people with their territory, religion, language, culture, and right to self-governance.
He reminded reporters that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also stated that it is possible to go to the meeting in Geneva with “new ideas”, and emphasised the importance of Turkey’s full support.
The President pointed out that “sovereign equality” will be mentioned in the Geneva talks for the “first time” along with the cooperation of two states living side by
side, and that the Turkish Cypriots should have an equal status with the Greek Cypriot side in the international community.
President Tatar stated that the recognition of the Greek Cypriot administration as the only legitimate government of Cyprus with the “unjust and political UN decision dated March 4, 1964” is one of the “injustices” against the Turkish Cypriots.
The other injustice, he said, was accepting the EU membership application of the Greek Cypriot side, despite their rejection of the Annan Plan in 2004.
Pointing out that the Turkish Cypriot people were “unjustly treated” because of the “unfair superiority of the Greek Cypriot side”, Mr Tatar said that all of these points have been conveyed by his special representative Ergün Olgun, who is also an Erenköy veteran, to officials visiting from abroad.
Meanwhile the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said on Monday that the EU will continue to “monitor Ankara’s behaviour” and keep all options on the table including sanctions.
Speaking after the European Council meeting, Mr Borrell said in reference to a draft EU report on Turkey: “The report recognises that since last December, we have seen some signs and steps towards the deescalation in the eastern Mediterranean from the Turkish leadership.”
The EU will “wait and see” Turkey’s approach “on the Cyprus problem and exploratory talks with Greece”, as well as Libya and the “domestic situation” Mr Borrell said.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said that while the report on Turkey was partly “positive” from their perspective “there are also shortcomings, such as the casus belli, or references to Turkish offences such as Varosha [Maraş], or the direct violations of international law on the sea”.
The report notes that Turkey’s nonrecognition of the Greek Cypriot administration as the “Republic of Cyprus” continues to act as a barrier to cooperation while “normalisation” of EU-Turkey relations” will remain “extremely challenging in the absence of a solution to the Cyprus issue”.
“The Cyprus settlement issue is a core element of Turkey’s strong disagreements with the EU in the eastern Mediterranean,” the report states. Greece and South Cyprus have “objected” to the draft report and are seeking further amendments, it was said.