Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Öncü Keçeli, in Response to a Question Regarding the European Commission’s Appointment of a new “Special Envoy for Cyprus”

“We consider the European Commission’s decision to appoint a new “Special Envoy for Cyprus” to be an internal matter of the EU, as with similar appointments in the past.

We remind yet again that the EU lost its impartiality on the Cyprus issue by admitting the Greek Cypriot side to EU membership in 2004 despite the latter’s rejection of the UN Comprehensive Settlement Plan.

In this regard, we observe that the entirely biased approach of EU institutions, most notably the European Parliament, toward the Cyprus issue has continued and lately intensified.

We expect the official newly appointed by the European Commission to work toward changing the EU’s partisan position and ensuring that the EU grasps the fact that a settlement of the Cyprus issue can only be achieved through negotiations between two states in sovereign equality, based on the realities on the Island.”