Özersay: “The approaches that will involve the Greek Cypriot leadership regarding Maraş process should be avoided”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kudret Özersay issued some warnings and stated that the approaches that will involve the Greek Cypriot leadership regarding the Maraş process should be avoided at the meeting which will be held between President Akıncı and the Greek Cypriot leader Anastasiades on August 9, 2019.

In his statement to the Turkish News Agency, Özersay said: “There was some news in the Greek Cypriot press regarding Anastasiades bringing up the Maraş issue in the agenda for the meeting on August 9, 2019, and will ask for the establishment of a committee on this issue. This is not acceptable to us as the Government of the TRNC.

Maraş has been discussed several times between the two sides for many years whether it can be a confidence-building measure or not, yet it has not reached a solution because of the strict attitude of the Greek Cypriot side. Now we cannot accept entering the same vicious circle.

While we have started to take steps concerning the closed city Maraş as the government of the TRNC, it is not possible to accept an interruption to this process which we initiated and including the Greek Cypriot side in the Maraş process one way or another, is out of the question.

Özersay continued: “Property rights of former owners are protected in different ways with the decisions taken by the Immovable Property Commission (IPC) such as the options of return, compensation and exchange, and this is possible by the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights within the TRNC as well.

The same situation is also valid for Maraş. There is no need for UN control to prevent any prejudice to people’s property rights. Basically IPC law, our own legislation, and the European Court of Human Rights decisions are essential, not the decisions of the Security Council, which are shaped on a political and cyclical basis.