President Mustafa Ak\u0131nc\u0131 stated that the guarantees desired by Turkish Cypriots related to protecting their security cannot be provided by the EU because the EU does not have such a mechanism.<\/p>\n
President Mustafa Ak\u0131nc\u0131 answered questions from NTV regarding the Cyprus negotiation process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a suggestion for an international power. On the other hand, Turkey is very sensitive to the security of the Turkish Cypriots\u201d said Ak\u0131nc\u0131. When asked if he insists \u201con the presence of Turkish troops,\u201d Ak\u0131nc\u0131 responded \u201cNot only Ankara but also the Turkish Cypriot people have the same sensitivities on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ak\u0131nc\u0131 said that there are two important points: the security issue and the continuation of the status of the Turkish Cypriots. The Turkish Cypriot people do not want to rely on foreign powers for their guarantee on these issues, the President stated, before continuing as follows:<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the federation we establish breaks again because of the Greek Cypriots\u2019 stance, if they attempt to usurp our rights, then the Turkish Cypriots will have to resort to their last option. We know that only one power could stop this course of action, with a decision that would still have to be passed in their own parliament \u2013 that power is Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first Greek Cypriots showed some understanding but later, the Greek Cypriot Leader said that this system is worse than the system in 1960 which allegedly evokes two separate states and a confederation, and that the Turkish Cypriot side had proposed to keep the system as it was in 1960.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Ak\u0131nc\u0131 also highlighted that the right to intervene not only belongs to Turkey, but also Greece and the UK.<\/p>\n
The Greek Cypriot side was insisting on zero troops and zero guarantees, and Ak\u0131nc\u0131 said that it was out of the question for the Turkish Cypriot side to accept this.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the technical group discussions which lasted for two days at Mont P\u00e8lerin, it was very clear that guarantees within the framework of the EU could not be provided, in the sense of guaranteeing and protecting the constitutional status which the Turkish Cypriots want\u201d.
\nAk\u0131nc\u0131 underlined that the Greek Cypriots have extreme demands, saying that \u201cThe most extreme is that regarding the removal of all troops over the next couple of years but without a solution in place. This is not possible. Turkey\u2019s 40,000 troops in Cyprus are not needed, but the number should be decreased if a solution is reached. In 1960, an agreement was reached for 650 Turkish troops and 950 Greek troops to be present on the island. Turkish President Erdo\u011fan also mentioned a similar number.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calling for the Greek Cypriots to be more reasonable and realistic on this point, Ak\u0131nc\u0131 stressed that the Greek Cypriots\u2019 \u2018zero troops, zero guarantees\u2019 attitude would not be approved in a referendum.<\/p>\n
President Mustafa Ak\u0131nc\u0131 and Greek Cypriot Leader Nikos Anastasiades will meet again as part of Cyprus negotiations at the buffer zone under the auspices of the United Nations.<\/p>\n
The leaders\u2019 meeting today will be the first meeting after the five-party conference and the negotiations in Geneva.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Mustafa Ak\u0131nc\u0131 stated that the guarantees desired by Turkish Cypriots related to protecting their security [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}