Akıncı warns Ankara over ‘unofficial contacts’ with GCs
PRESIDENT Mustafa Akıncı yesterday warned against sidelining the Turkish Cypriots, after it was revealed that Ankara is holding “unofficial contacts” with the Greek Cypriots.
Addressing “questions” following the revelation by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Thursday, Mr Akıncı said it was “natural and necessary” for the island’s guarantor powers to meet “other relevant sides”, but urged caution.
“Firstly, if these contacts turns out to be regular, it might create an impression that the Turkish Cypriot side is being excluded. Such a picture . . . would serve the Greek Cypriot side which has had this desire for many years, and would cause serious damage,” he warned, adding: “The impression should not be created that the Turkish Cypriots are a minor, insignificant detail.”
Mr Akıncı said the Greek side must also reciprocate if the contacts continued, with Greek officials meeting Turkish Cypriot representatives.
“While the negotiating process was going on we came to an agreement for the four sides to meet, but Akıncı-Anastasiades-Erdoğan-Tsipras talks were rejected by the Greek Cypriot side. Similarly, my visit to Athens in return for [Greek Cypriot leader Nicos] Anastasiades’s visit to Ankara was discussed but encountered Greek Cypriot objections.”
GREEK Cypriot politicians this week sounded a downbeat note over Cyprus, as President Mustafa Akıncı declared after meeting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York that the “old negotiating process is over”.
The South’s communist party Akel leader Andros Kyprianou blasted Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades for “going it alone” in New York, and warned that the future of peace talks was in danger.
Meanwhile Democratic Rally party (Disy) leader, Averof Neophytou, was quoted on Thursday as saying, after his own contacts in the US, that he felt it was “the end of the road for a solution . . . on a bizonal, bicommunal federal [basis]”.
In an interview, he warned that international powers were “fatigued” and “not convinced that we want a solution”, and that the next generation could be living with a division on the island that was no longer “de facto” but “de jure”.
Mr Akıncı’s 25-minute meeting with Mr Guterres last Friday night was his first with the UN chief since the collapse of peace talks in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in July last year.
Mr Guterres, who also met Mr Anastasiades separately, is expected to decide on the way out of the impasse after receiving a report from temporary envoy Jane Holl Lute. The South’s Cyprus News Agency said on Thursday Mr Guterres’s own report on the UN’s “good offices mission” in Cyprus was due to be submitted by October 15 for discussion at the Security Council on October 30.
Speaking at a press conference after his meeting, Mr Akıncı said Mr Guterres was “well aware of the Turkish Cypriot side’s positive contribution” to the talks process, but added: “The old negotiating process is over. Doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result is not possible for us.
“The Greek Cypriot side is dictating non-settlement of the Cyprus problem by insisting on open-ended negotiations while the ultimate goal should be a results-oriented, timetabled and strategic package deal for the resumption of talks. Anything contrary to that will lead nowhere.” Referring to hydrocarbons exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, he added that the issue was inextricably bound up with the Cyprus problem. “Turkish Cypriots have as much right to these resources as Greek Cypriots, They do not belong to just one community on the island,” he reiterated.
“I hope there is potential for cooperation on this issue which would involve Turkey and which could evolve into something very positive for all sides.”
Mr Akıncı told a press conference on Thursday he had made the Turkish Cypriot position “very open and plain” to UN and EU leaders: “The Turkish Cypriot people want a solution in Cyprus. They do not want the continuation of the status quo.
“They want to take their rightful place in a probable solution. They want to be one of the equal partners to play a role in the construction of the future of Cyprus.”
TRNC Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Kudret Özersay, who was also in New York, said he did not expect Ms Lute to “pull a rabbit out of the hat” with her report, saying: “The positions of the parties involved are pretty clear after talks that have been continuing for half a century, and she has also visited the various parties to learn from them what they want and do not want, what they can accept and what they cannot accept.”
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump issued a statement for “Cyprus Independence Day” saying his nation “remains firmly supportive of efforts to reunify the island of Cyprus”.