President Akıncı: “No one should ask for pause in the negotiations”
President Mustafa Akıncı said that if a result is not reached within 2-3 months on the Cyprus issue, the process will decline after the elections in South Cyprus, therefore no one should ask for a pause in the negotiations anymore.
President Akıncı was responding to questions from the press at the Presidency following his meeting with Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades yesterday.
President Akıncı stated that they focussed on trying to shape the roadmap for the negotiations during yesterday’s meeting. Akıncı added that he will meet with Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades on 9, 16, 23 February and that, alongside this, the negotiators will continue their meetings regularly.
Stressing that the process that started with the five party conference on 12 January in Geneva is still continuing, President Akıncı added that the meetings are ongoing in Geneva at the technical level. The United Nations was requested to come together with the guarantor countries to determine a date to reconvene the five party conference at a political level at the beginning of March.
Stressing that the election process will start on the Greek Cypriot side after 1-2 months and that exploration for natural gas will be on the agenda again, Akıncı said that both leaders confirmed during yesterday’s meeting that the momentum gained in the process should continue.
Responding to a question, Akıncı reiterated that they made a clear request for the ‘beginning of March’ for the five party conference, and that a date will be decided together with the guarantor countries.
Akıncı also added that, in the event of a solution, the aim will be to relocate as few people as possible.
Özgürgün: “Presenting a map is a big concession”
Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün said that presenting a map ahead of a referendum plan was a major concession and a strategic mistake, and added, “After that, the Turkish Cypriot side has nothing left to bargain with and has revealed its hand at the negotiating table”.
Prime Minister Özgürgün was speaking about the latest developments and answered the questions of the BEST FM news director Ufuk Karcı on a radio program.
Criticizing President Mustafa Akıncı for presenting a map at the negotiation table despite the lack of any progress on any of the other outstanding issues, Özgürgün questioned what was left to negotiate with the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades.
“As of this point, the Greek Cypriot side will be entering a discussion as to whether or not Turkish troops should withdraw from the island, will be demanding this and will push for this to happen. We should never have come to this point” said Özgürgün.
Eide: “Akıncı and Anastasiades ask the UN to prepare an early March meeting as a continuation of the Geneva Conference”
President Mustafa Akıncı and Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades have asked the UN to prepare for a meeting as a continuation of the Geneva Conference in early March.
Yesterday the leaders met within the framework of the ongoing negotiations for a Cyprus settlement. It was announced that the leaders decided to meet weekly throughout the month of February to address outstanding issues. The next leaders’ meeting will be held on 9 February. The negotiators will also continue their regular meetings.
According to a statement given by the UN Secretary General’s Good Mission Office, Eide said that the developments since the Conference on Cyprus in Geneva and the subsequent session at the level of deputies in Mont Pèlerin on 18-19 January were evaluated at the meeting.
Source: TRNC Public Information Office –
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