EC chief: EU will ‘never, ever’ accept a two-state solution
THE EU will “never, ever” accept a two-state solution in Cyprus, the President of the European Commission has said.
Ursula von der Leyen made the comments during a press conference last Friday at the European Council summit in Brussels.
Asked by a journalist about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s planned visit to North Cyprus on July 20, and speculation that he could visit Maraş, Ms von der Leyen said that she had made it “very clear” to Mr Erdoğan during a phone call earlier in the week that his visit is a “very sensitive topic for us”.
“And we are very clear that we will of course observe how this visit will go and that we will never, ever accept, as a European Union, a twostate solution,” she said.
“These clear messages have been sent. I said it personally to the President. So it’s up to him now to set a positive signal.”
President Ersin Tatar said that the “regretful statements made by officials and administrators of some EU member states has caused us disappointment”.
“Either they do not know the real facts of Cyprus or they do not want to know, because there are already two separate states in Cyprus,” he said.
“Our expectation of two states in Cyprus will be realised upon the acceptance of our sovereignty . . . It is out of the question for us, the self-governing Turkish Cypriot people, to be patched onto the Greek Cypriot-run Republic of Cyprus, just because the EU wants it.
“After all, these federal-based, bicommunal talks, including the Annan Plan, have never reached a conclusion because Greek Cypriots never intended to partner with us as equals.”