President Mustafa Akıncı stressed that the Turkish Cypriot side will continue to adopt a constructive stance as always, but that they will act in a conscious manner by protecting the rights of the Turkish Cypriot people to the end.

In his address to the nation marking the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the TRNC, President Akıncı said:

“I want to say that; as I have mentioned before, open-ended and not result-oriented negotiation processes are over from now on. The fact that this issue has started to be included in the UN Secretary General’s reports is a pleasing development.

In addition to this modality, the Turkish Cypriot side will be ready to form a new federal partnership based on the existence of two equal constituent states, the sovereignty of which will emanate from two equal sides on this island by staying committed to past understandings. Establishing the conditions for both parties to live in equality, freedom and security depends again on the will of both parties. We would like to see an understanding from the Greek Cypriot side which will give fair sharing of powers and riches and make our region the centre of new cooperation opportunities, not new tensions.

The approaches so far do not give hope. We would like to see the results of the visits to the guarantor countries and the island which are being carried out by the United Nations Secretary-General’s temporary special Envoy Lute, appointed by Guterres, before the end of the year.

The Turkish Cypriot side will continue to adopt a constructive stance as always. We will never give any consent to the Greek Cypriot leadership’s conception which will put the Turkish Cypriot people in a minority position with statements such as “the state should be functional”. We will continue to struggle to shape the relationship between the two sides in Cyprus not as a majority-minority but between two politically equal sides as also foreseen by the parameters of the UN.”