The self-declared foreign ministry in the occupied north has rejected remarks by President Nikos Christodoulides that there is a “window of opportunity” on the Cyprus problem, claiming they amount to an attempt to mislead the international community.
According to reports from the occupied areas, the ministry said in a statement that while the position of the Turkish Cypriot side is “clear and unwavering”, the Greek Cypriot side continues, as it claimed, to refuse to see Turkish Cypriots as equal partners and to present itself as the sole owner of the island.
It argued that the model pursued for more than half a century has collapsed because of what it described as the “intransigence” and “maximalist demands” of the Greek Cypriot side, as well as an approach that ignores what it called the inherent rights of Turkish Cypriots.
The statement also said that, in response to the UN Secretary-General’s call for the sides to submit new ideas, the Turkish Cypriot side had shared with all parties involved its position that any possible agreement on the island could only be achieved through the acceptance of sovereign equality and equal international status.
It further claimed that a new process would only be possible if that position was recognised, adding that an agreement between the two sides could be reached only through the existence of “two independent, sovereign states living side by side”.
The ministry also dismissed what it called attempts by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus to create artificial time pressure or a timetable linked to the term of the UN Secretary-General, saying these were meaningless for the Turkish Cypriot side.
“As all parties know, there is no basis for the start of negotiations,” it claimed, adding that efforts to suggest negotiations were about to begin were “far from reality”.
It also repeated the Turkish Cypriot side’s demand for the international community to take steps to lift what it described as the isolation imposed on Turkish Cypriots for more than 60 years.
Source: CNA
