Özgürgün: “The Turkish Cypriot people will never approve an agreement which does not involve Turkey’s full and effective guarantee”

According to Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün, the Greek Cypriot Parliament has demonstrated once again that their ultimate goal is not to reach a solution on the Cyprus issue, but to implement Enosis. Describing the Greek Cypriot parliament’s choice to uphold the Enosis decision as an ongoing source of conflict between both sides, The Prime Minister stated that their insistence on a “zero-guarantee, zero troops” agreement has harmed the negotiation process.

Özgürgün also added that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had witnessed the perennial lack of cooperation on the Greek Cypriot side, which caused the collapse of the 50 year- long negotiating process, at the Crans-Montana conference last July. However, the Prime Minister expressed dismay that this was not reflected in Guterres’ report on Cyprus published last week Wednesday.

Özgürgün stressed that the Crans-Montana negotiations had been thwarted by two Greek Cypriot ELAM parliamentarians who had chosen to commemorate the 1950 Enosis Plebiscite in schools. He also stated that the Greek Cypriot Parliament sustains its provocations against the Turkish Cypriot side by approving proposals from the Greek Cypriot Ecological and Environmental Movement.

The Prime Minister stressed, “It must be known that Motherland Turkey’s right of guarantee intra vires within the Guarantee Agreement will never be undermined by the provocations of the Greek Cypriot Parliament and the Greek Cypriot leader. The Turkish Cypriot people will never approve an agreement which does not involve the full and effective guarantee of Motherland Turkey.”