Özersay: “Criteria are important in ownership”

Former negotiator and lecturer at EMU- Department of Political Science and International Relations Prof. Dr. Kudret Özersay stated that the fact that the ownership issue is going to be solved based on criteria is a positive progress but what criteria will be used is more important.

 Özersay interpreted the statement which was made by the leaders after their last meeting. In his written statement Özersay indicated that the statement which was made about the ownership had some positive aspects but some points should be clarified.  

Özersay said: “I hope, especially the parties understand the same thing from the statement which has some positive aspects. It is positive that the ownership resolution will be based on the specified criteria, but what will these criteria be, is more important. Without an agreement on the criteria, property regime will not emerge and it would be impossible to know what will happen in the future. In his statement Özersay noted that there are some questions to be answered to clarify whether the parties understand the same thing or not. He said : “The property issue has been transformed into a full mess in the Cyprus problem; perhaps it has become one of the most complicated topics therefore, it is normal to take time for the parties to achieve progress in this regard. If the parties understand very different things from the same text, they should focus on resolving these disagreements rather than give the progress messages to the public.”