Özersay contiues London contacts

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kudret Özersay who is in London for the launch of a project for Turkish Cypriots living abroad is continuing his contacts.

Yesterday, the TRNC Foreign Minister delivered a speech on the Cyprus Issue at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Speaking to the TAK news agency following the event, Foreign Minister Özersay reminded that the UN Secretary General’s temporary envoy Jane Holl Lute will be arriving in Cyprus on Monday for consultations with both sides before preparing a report for the UN Secretary General.

He said that what was important was not restarting the negotiations but to determine and to question as to why the talks had failed to achieve a successful outcome.

“It’s important that we find the answer to the question as to why the negotiations which have been going on for 50 years have failed to achieve the desired result” he said, expressing the view that a realistic roadmap on how to proceed in the future could only emerge once that question was answered.

Reminding the statement of the former UN Secretary-General who was in office fourteen years ago, saying that “the Greek Cypriots were not ready to share the governance and wealth on the island with the Turkish Cypriots”, Özersay said that it should be asked if this situation has changed after 14 years and if they are ready for this now.

Özersay pointed out that two important developments had taken place in Cyprus over the past 14 years which has made Greek Cypriots even more disinclined towards sharing power and wealth with Turkish Cypriots.

“The first is the Greek Cypriots were allowed to join the EU on their own and the second is the unilateral hydrocarbon exploration activities carried out by the Greek Cypriot side without the consent of Turkish Cypriots and before a settlement has been reached. More importantly the international community chooses to remain silent over this issue” he said.