Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated that the EU wants to join 5+UN meeting to be held in Geneva in April as observers, and he added that it is an informal meeting, but the EU could attend as observers when the negotiations start.
Çavuşoğlu met with Turkish journalists following the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting in Brussels, Belgium.
Giving information about his contacts in Brussels, Çavuşoğlu said that he first met with EU Foreign Relations and Security Policy High Representative Josep Borrell and conveyed his expectation on future steps such as the Eastern Mediterranean Conference.
Reminding that he had bilateral meetings with Foreign Ministers of Montenegro, France, UK, USA and the Netherlands, and met with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, Çavuşoğlu stated that they discussed issues such as Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean as well as bilateral relations.
Calling on the EU to keep its promises, Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey has kept its promises, but the EU has not fully kept its promises.
Regarding the importance of the sharing rights of the natural resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, Minister Çavuşoğlu said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan proposed to the EU to hold a joint Eastern Mediterranean conference including all Mediterranean countries which have companies in the Eastern Mediterranean but the EU has not responded as yet. Adding that the participation of Cyprus seems to be a problem, Çavuşoğlu said “Since fair sharing will be discussed, we said that either both sides from Cyprus or neither of them should participate”.
Furthermore, pointing out that they have spent efforts for a permanent solution in Cyprus, Çavuşoğlu said that the EU wants to participate in the 5+UN meeting as an observer but this will be an unofficial meeting so the EU can only participate as observers when the negotiations start.
Source : TRNC Public Information Office
