At UN-led Cyprus talks, TRNC insists only 2-state solution viable
Source: DAILYSABAH
A federation-based solution for the island of Cyprus is off the table, Ersin Tatar, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), reiterated on Thursday following talks at U.N. headquarters.
“We will never compromise our sovereignty. If there is to be an agreement, it will be based on the equal sovereignty of two separate states,” Tatar told reporters in New York.
The informal meeting on Cyprus was held under the auspices of the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who described the talks as “constructive” and said the leaders of the ethnically divided island had agreed to continue discussions aimed at building confidence.
The talks followed a similar meeting hosted in Geneva in March and aimed at facilitating an exchange of views on developments in six key cooperation areas previously agreed upon by the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot sides.
Greek Cypriots control the southern part of the island and are recognized by the international community as a state, despite protests from Turkish Cypriots and Türkiye.
The TRNC, located in the northern part of the island, is recognized by Türkiye, which is a guarantor state in the resolution of the decades-long “Cyprus question.”
Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides, the foreign minister of Greece, George Gerapettis and the U.K. Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories, Stephen Doughty, also attended the meeting.
Greece and the U.K. are other guarantor states in the process.
Tatar stressed Thursday that formal negotiations on the Cyprus issue will not resume unless the sovereign equality and international status of Turkish Cypriots are recognized.
“We obviously, in the last four years, have consolidated our new policy that unless our sovereign equality and equal international status is reaffirmed, we will not resume formal negotiations for the resolution of the Cyprus problem,” he noted.
“Because we believe very much that these assets, our sovereign equality and international status, they are our inherent rights.”
The talks in Geneva focused on exploring areas of cooperation between the two sides on the island, rather than reaching a final resolution on the status of the communities.
Eventually, the sides agreed upon the opening of new crossing points in the divided island where Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are separated by a U.N. buffer zone, clearance of land mines, cooperation on environment and climate change, solar-powered electricity production in the buffer zone, restoration of cemeteries and the establishment of a joint technical committee for the youth.
Although progress was reported in some topics discussed in Geneva, cooperation stalled in others, such as the clearance of mines and electricity production, due to the uncompromising stance of the Greek Cypriot side.
On Thursday, Guterres said Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities would press ahead with attempts to open new crossing points between the two sides and cooperating on solar energy initiatives.
“It is critical to implement all these initiatives as soon as possible, for the benefit of all Cypriots,” Guterres said.
There are presently nine crossing points along a 180-km-long (116-mile-long) cease-fire line splitting the two sides. Guterres said there was a “question of itinerary” in relation to one of the new checkpoints opening but that there had been important progress on the issue.
Following the meeting, Tatar said that the Greek Cypriot side had sought to have a new road built in the buffer zone to reach a new crossing – something unacceptable to the Turkish Cypriot side.
“Because of this buffer zone complication, we have not been able to announce the opening of four gates,” he said. “I’m very upset about this.”
Tatar said that he had offered a counterproposal to the Greek Cypriot leader that was not accepted.
“We are not losing ground,” he insisted, saying he was hopeful there would be movement on the issue by the time of the U.N. General Assembly high-level meetings in September.
Tatar noted that he came to the meeting “with a positive, constructive and forward-looking agenda” but expressed “profound disappointment” over incidents on the island following the meeting in Geneva.
“The actions of the Greek Cypriot leadership are causing Turkish Cypriot people to be anxious under pressure and increasingly threatened,” he said.
Saying that “many Turkish Cypriots are in fear over being arrested or detained in the event they cross to South Cyprus or when traveling abroad,” Tatar reaffirmed that “there are two states and two democracies, which reflect the will of the Turkish Cypriot people and the Greek Cypriot people, which have been in existence in Cyprus for the last six years.”
“If there is to be a new and formal negotiation process, it must be based on the realities on the ground, treating the two sides equally, fairly and with dignity,” he added.
The original article: belongs to DAILYSABAH .
