Foreign Ministry: “In the absence of an accurate evaluation it will not be possible to reach a solution in Cyprus”

Indicating that the report of the United Nations Secretary-General on his Mission of Good Offices in Cyprus created deep disappointment Foreign Ministry said: “Whilst the report had the opportunity and potential to act as a guidebook for a solution, the current report, regrettably, will take its place on dusty shelves, along with all other documents belonging to the 50 year long negotiation process.

In a written statement Foreign Ministry evaluated the report of the United Nations Secretary-General on his Mission of Good Offices in Cyprus. The statement is as follows:

“The report of the United Nations Secretary-General on his Mission of Good Offices in Cyprus (S/2017/814) regarding the latest negotiation process has been published.

The report, which supposedly takes an impartial approach, fails to provide a complete and accurate reflection of the developments in the latest negotiation process in general and Crans-Montana in particular, thus failing to adopt a just and fair approach. In his report, the Secretary General refrains from acknowledging that the recent process has failed due to the intransigence of the Greek Cypriot side. The fact that the lack of political will and determination of the Greek Cypriot side is equally attributed to all sides makes matters even worse.

The report makes no reference to the negative stance of the Greek Cypriot side which refused to discuss, even in principle, the already agreed notion of rotating presidency, an indispensable part of the political equality of the Turkish Cypriot side. Furthermore, the report does not refer to Turkish Cypriot side’s openings regarding the Confidence Building Measures. Moreover, Greek Cypriot side’s intransigent approach of ‘‘zero-troops, zero-guarantees’’ is overlooked.  In this context, we would like to reiterate that the continuation of Turkey’s guarantee rights is indispensable element for the Turkish Cypriot side who would not vote in favour of an agreement devoid of it.

The United Nations Secretary General’s refusal to confess the reasons behind the collapse of the negotiation process and that it would not be possible to reach a solution within the framework of the current parameters is noteworthy. The approach that the negotiation process should resume from where it was left off rather than clearly pointing out that the sole party responsible for a lack of a settlement is the Greek Cypriot side prevents a thorough evaluation of this failure and prevents a new approach to reaching a solution. In the absence of an accurate evaluation on the causes behind the failure of the 50 year long negotiations, it will not be possible to reach a solution in Cyprus. Regrettably, the Secretary General’s report is far from shedding light on or contributing to this evaluation.

Despite the failure of the half-a-century old negotiation process, demonstrating that a settlement based on the current parameters is not possible, the Secretary General continues to refrain from acknowledging this fact in his report, thus, contributing to the continuation of the very status quo that the Secretary General himself deems unacceptable. This status quo means that the Turkish Cypriot people are obliged to live under inhumane isolation imposed on them. Once again our expectations from the United Nations and the Secretary General to adopt a determined and courageous approach have not been met, although such an approach would allow for the Turkish Cypriot people to take their rightful place in the international arena from which they have been unfairly secluded for so many years.

In light of the above mentioned facts, we would like to express our deep disappointment as to the report of the Secretary General. Whilst the report had the opportunity and potential to act as a guidebook for a solution, the current report, regrettably, will take its place on dusty shelves, along with all other documents belonging to the 50 year long negotiation process.”