Akıncı: “We will not be part of an open ended process”

President Mustafa Akıncı said that Turkish Cypriot side will not be included in a process which is open ended and not result oriented. Akıncı stressed that as well as the Turkish Cypriot side, the Office of the UN Secretary General also supports this view.

President Akıncı received the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Volkan Bozkır yesterday. Akıncı stressed that Turkish Cypriots will not be the minority administrated by the Greek Cypriots on the island. Noting that in the 1960 agreements, Turkish Cypriots were not qualified as a minority, on the contrary they were qualified as a partner of the new state, Akıncı stressed that the Greek Cypriot side never accepted this situation and considered the island as their own island. Akıncı added that the Greek Cypriot side also wanted to unite the island with Greece, but this was not possible.

Pointing out that in the following processes, the most important factor has been political equality, Akıncı said that they have been trying to solve the Cyprus problem for 50 years.

In his speech, Volkan Bozkır said that Turkey is always determined to support the TRNC. Expressing that after the Crans Montana process, an atmosphere of disappointment has occurred, Bozkır said that the Greek Cypriot side wanted to extend the process and put the Turkish Cypriots into a minority status but Turkey will never allow the Greek Cypriot side to create such an atmosphere in Cyprus. Bozkır also expressed that they prefer to reach an agreement on the basis of political equality, not extension of the process.

Furthermore, Bozkır stressed that many actions of the Greek Cypriot side regarding natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean are not acceptable, Bozkır said: “The only remedy is to transfer natural gas via Turkey. We will remain patient and they will find the right way”.