Speaking at a budget planning meeting at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu reminded that Cyprus was a national cause for Turkey and Turkey will not sit at the negotiating table just for the sake of negotiating on the Cyprus Issue.

Çavuşoğlu also stated ‘If a new process will start, all ambiguous points must have been cleared in advance regarding the political equality of the two sides. Çavusoğlu reminded that Turkey, which has the longest shoreline in the Eastern Mediterranean, has legitimate rights and benefits in the western and northern maritime zones of Cyprus. Minister Çavuşoğlu underlined ‘Our country has taken the necessary measures to protect those rights and we will continue to protect both our rights and continental shelf and the rights of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus for which we are guarantor’.