Davutoğlu: “Our commitment to reach a comprehensive settlement in the Cyprus issue is continuing”
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said “Our commitment to reach a fair and comprehensive political settlement based on the political equality of both sides in the Cyprus issue is continuing.”
Addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Davutoğlu stated that the latest developments in the Eastern Mediterranean revealed once again the importance of solving the Cyprus issue without undue delay. He added that:
“We aspire to reach a permanent settlement in the Cyprus issue as soon as possible and we support active and constructive efforts of both leaders. I want to stress that a settlement in 2016 can be possible through the sincere efforts and the energy of both sides. Reaching the solution objective will be an important step for transforming the Eastern Mediterranean into a field of peace, stability and cooperation. This will be for the benefit of particularly the two sides in Cyprus as well as the international community and the Council of Europe in general.”
Akıncı and Anastasiades met
President Mustafa Akıncı and the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades met again within the framework of the Cyprus negotiations.
Following the leaders’ meeting yesterday, President Akıncı made a brief statement for the TRNC Presidency Facebook page. The statement of Akıncı is as follows:
“We had a good meeting that lasted three and a half hours in a positive atmosphere. We made new additions to positive developments. Let’s keep working. The target is a solution in 2016.”
Akıncı to meet with Nuland today
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. State Department Victoria Nuland who arrived in Cyprus yesterday will meet with President Mustafa Akıncı, the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades and the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide.
President Akıncı is receiving Victoria Nuland today. Nuland will be accompanied by United States Deputy Assistant Undersecretary Amanda Sloat.
According to the statement of the USA Embassy, Nuland aims to obtain information and discuss issues concerning both sides about the ongoing negotiation process in Cyprus.
The United States continues its long-standing support for a Cypriot-led, UN-facilitated process to reunify the island. As a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, Cyprus would be a beacon of stability and a model of reconciliation in this volatile region.
Denktaş: “The administration in the North is the interlocutor of the Greek Cypriot Administration”
Stating that there are two administrations on the island which have to cooperate from time to time whether there is a solution on the island or not, the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Serdar Denktaş said that the administration in the North is the interlocutor of the Greek Cypriot Administration.
Indicating that both sides have to address each other when required, Denktaş said that the statements such as “The government in the north is not our interlocutor” is insulting and disregarding the democracy of the Turkish Cypriots and it is not possible to accept.
During one of his receptions Serdar Denktaş responded to the statements which appeared in the Greek Cypriot press recently that “Our interlocutor is Akıncı, not the government”. Denktaş said this kind of statement of the Greek Cypriot politicians and people mean underestimation of the Turkish Cypriots’ democracy.
Benli met with Bozouls and Knape
President of the Turkish Cypriot Association of Municipalities and Gönyeli Mayor Ahmet Benli met with Secretary-General of Council of Europe Local and Regional Authorities Congress Jean Philippe Bozouls and President of the Chamber of Local Authorities Anders Knape.
The meeting was held at the office of Ahmet Benli at Gönyeli Municipality building. In his statement to the press before their meeting, Benli said that works are being carried out at the Council of Europe Local and Regional Authorities Congress which has 47 member countries in order to develop local democracy and to ensure that local administrations provide better services.
“In this regard the Council of Europe Local and Regional Authorities Congress is a school for us” said Benli and thanked Bozouls and Knape for their contributions.
President of the Chamber of Local Authorities Anders Knape for his part stated that local administrations will have a chance to discuss common problems at this meeting. Stating that their aim is to ensure the development of democracy from local areas, Knape said that if the local democracies perform well, this will reflect to the general public.
Pointing out that local administrations can supply the needs of the citizens and provide the best service because they are the closest unit to the citizens, Knape said that the relations of the local administrations with central administrations and the way of sharing financial and human resources will be discussed at the meeting.
Source: TRNC Public Information Office –
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Pictures shown are courtesy of the TRNC Public Information Office Facebook page.
