President Akıncı: “We have made significant progress”

In a statement following the Leaders’ meeting last Friday, President Akıncı announced that significant progress had been made on matters related to the executive, legislative and judiciary powers that fall under the “Governance and Power Sharing” chapter of the Negotiations. President Akıncı explained that issues related to the legislative and judiciary branches were nearly agreed on. As for the executive branch, the President acknowledged that progress had been made, but some issues still need to be discussed:

“One of the most important questions which remains unsolved is that of the rotational presidency,” said President Akıncı. “As the Turkish Cypriot side, we have consistently said that the rotational presidency is an indispensable component of the political equality we want to achieve. Therefore we hope that an agreement will be reached on this issue in the later stages of the talks.”

The President also pointed out that the preparations will start in 2017 for the 2018 Presidential election in South Cyprus. He explained that the process of nominating candidates, the campaign and potential need to build a coalition will come to the forefront of the political agenda in South Cyprus by the spring of 2017, and that this will be detrimental to the efforts towards a comprehensive settlement.

Asked about the possible impact on the Negotiations of natural gas drilling works re-starting, the appointment of a new UN Secretary General, and the election of a new US president, President Akıncı stated: “all things considered, our goal is to reach a solution to the Cyprus problem by the end of 2016.”