Akıncı: “Negotiations should be result oriented”

President Mustafa Akıncı and the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace.

President Mustafa Akıncı said that they had first carried out a tete-a-tete meeting and then moved forward with their meeting with political parties that are represented in parliament where they discussed the Cyprus issue and the natural gas reserves around the island.

“We want to clarify our stance, if we do not do this we cannot negotiate. We have tried open ended talks that were not result orientated. We believe that result orientated talks within a time frame can bear fruit” said the President.

He said that a solution can only be possible if it is based on political equality and added that the Greek Cypriot side had begun taking steps back on this issue and some other issues as well.

Expressing the hope that Lute’s efforts will bear fruit, President Akıncı said that Lute will be coming to the island at the beginning of February.

Touching upon the natural gas reserves around the island President Mustafa Akıncı said that everyone’s stance on this issue was crystal clear.

“There is a source around the island to which both peoples on the island have rights. It either continues to be a source of tension or common sense prevails and everyone benefits” said Akıncı.

Akıncı said that the TRNC and Turkey will continue to protect its rights on the natural resources issue.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu for his part said that the meetings they had carried out had been very useful and they had discussed how Turkey could further support the TRNC in bilateral relations, economy and education.

He said that they had extensively discussed the Cyprus issue and what steps they will follow in the future.

Touching upon the hydrocarbon issue the Turkish Foreign Minister said “what we want is very clear. The Turkish Cypriots have rights over these reserves and their rights must be safeguarded. The wealth to emerge must be shared fairly. This doesn’t mean you recognise them as a state”.

Çavuşoğlu stressed that Turkey will start drilling in Turkey’s Exclusive Economic Zone and also in the areas where the TRNC has given license.