Ertuğ and Olgun: “Everyone knows which side is responsible for the failure of the talks; all parties witnessed the uncompromising attitude of the Greek Cypriot side”

In a joint statement about the Cyprus Conference, former negotiators Osman Ertuğ and Ergün Olgun said that the international community is aware where responsibility lies for the failure of the efforts to reach a federal solution in Cyprus. The uncompromising attitude of the Greek Cypriot side has been noted in the related reports of the UN Secretary-General and has been witnessed by all the parties involved, including the UN, the EU and the UK. They also added that throughout this 50 year process, the Greek side has refused UN proposals/plans for at least 15 times, thus blocking a solution. These facts, they said, have been clearly put forward by the Greek Cypriot ex-official Nikos Rolandis.

Ertuğ and Olgun stated that the negotiations to reach a federal solution in Cyprus have now undeniably come to an end, as was witnessed by the UN, the EU and the international community. They said, “all the positions, proposals, maps and documents that had been submitted so far were taken away, and resuming the negotiations is out of the question now”.

The former negotiators also pointed out that  the conference in Crans-Montana represents a historical turning point, and that the Turkish Cypriot people will now continue to live with security, equality and freedom under the shelter of the TRNC. They also expressed their belief that the focus from now on should be on “improving the country both internally and externally”.

Ertuğ and Olgun also said that the experience from the last 50 years has shown that negotiating under embargoes, isolations, restrictions and not based on real equality do not serve any purpose other than maintaining the status quo, which solely benefits the Greek Cypriot side. They said, “Even if a new process starts in the future, it will not be under the conditions imposed by the Greek Cypriot side and it will not be a process without a set ending date. It should be a process based on two equal states and with the objective of finding a way to live independently as good neighbours”