Özersay: “The UN will not pull a rabbit out of the hat with the Cyprus report”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kudret Özersay stated that he does not expect the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to “pull a rabbit out of the hat” with the report to be presented by his special temporary envoy Jane Holl Lute within a couple of weeks and he added that “it is clear what the hat has in it”

Özersay made a statement to the AA correspondent following the meeting held between President Mustafa Akıncı and Antonio Guterres in New York.

Stating that the UN Secretary-General did not intend to say after a period of 50 years that the negotiations will be continued from where they stopped, Özersay said that the right thing to do after half a century is this kind of questioning…. Özersay continued:

“We all say we support a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation in Cyprus but there are significant differences between what the Greek Cypriot leadership generally understands from such a federation and what the Turkish Cypriot leadership understands from the federation.

What we call the federation requires a shared partnership and this partnership requires the sharing of administration and wealth. My answer to the question of whether the Greek Cypriots are ready to share administration and wealth with us is NO.

Since the Greek Cypriot side became a member of the European Union without solving the problem, they are aware that they can actually be a member of the European Union, even if they do not share administration and natural wealth, and there is a perception that they do not need to solve the Cyprus problem. There is a burn-out syndrome. This brings a fatigue with it ”

Touching on the fact that failure of each negotiation process shakes the trust of both communities in their own political leaderships and negotiation processes and also in the UN and thus the credibility suffers from erosion, Özersay stated that resuming the negotiation process without making sure that it will succeed, will bring more division, ‘solutionlessness’ and frustration to Cyprus.

Upon a question regarding what kind of way is there to follow after the old negotiation process and whether there is a Plan B or not, Özersay said :

”The answer to the question of how to negotiate from now on is, two-fold. This distinction is also very important. The first is about the method, the date, the calendar, at what level, will it be an international conference with the participation of the guarantors from the beginning? The use of a conclusive method is mentioned. What happens if this is negotiated and fails, something can be added such as the obstacle on Turkish Cypriots, direct flight ban – will be removed? Etc. Another important point is whether there is a common vision. I do not believe that negotiations will begin without this point becoming clear. Whether the two sides really intend to negotiate a partnership of the same classification needs to be questioned with sincerity.”