President Akıncı: “The TRNC will take its place in an honorable solution as an equal partner”
16 November, 2016Exhibition titled “TRNC in the eye of Azerbaijani children”
21 November, 2016President Mustafa Akıncı had a meeting with the leaders and representatives of the political parties regarding the negotiations held between 7-11 November in Switzerland and the second stage of negotiations to be held 20-21 November.
In their statements following the meeting, the political party leaders stressed that the Greek Cypriot side should response to the initiatives of the Turkish Cypriot side in Switzerland.
Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün questioned the desire of the Greek Cypriot side to reach a settlement with the Turkish Cypriots on the basis of true equality. If a conclusion is not reached, he made clear that a large part of this will be due to the unwillingness of the Greek Cypriots.
Furthermore, Özgürgün expressed his hope that a conclusion is reached shortly. “In order to reach a settlement, the Greek Cypriot side should take steps on the issues which they have not compromised on until today. They have not been willing to make these compromises for 48 years. If they take this step, there is no reason for not reaching a settlement. At the current stage, it is very difficult to take this step” Prime Minister Özgürgün added.
Underlining that the Turkish Cypriot side’s response to the 2004 referendum held for the Annan Plan was the most concrete demonstration of support for a settlement so far, Özgürgün said “The international community disregarded this gesture by the Turkish Cypriots and turned the period until 2008, when the negotiations relaunched, into a field day for the Greek Cypriots.”
Özgürgün highlighted that, with nothing to lose from the failure of this final round of talks, the Greek Cypriot side have not taken any steps towards compromise. . “My concern is that the view on the Greek Cypriot side is that as long as there is no initiative by the international community in the cultural, sporting or social fields, there is no need for them to compromise because they will lose nothing,” said Özgürgün. He added: “Due to this view, which I worry is held by many of the Greek Cypriot side, the talks have not made as much progress as they should have done.”