UN Secretary General’s Special Advisor Espen Barth Eide met with the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Tuesday. Eide in a continuing effort to revive the Cyprus negotiations had also met with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias in Athens on Monday.
At a press conference FM Çavuşoğlu said that the Turkish side will not accept any preconditions in the Cyprus negotiations.
Çavuşoğlu said that he had recently held frequent meetings with President Mustafa Akıncı and UN Special Advisor Espen Barth Eide.
Noting that he will be visiting the TRNC on Thursday, Çavuşoğlu pointed out that the negotiations had speeded up following the 11th February 2014 Joint Declaration and that their goal was to reach a comprehensive settlement within that framework.
Stating that the parameters of a settlement in Cyprus were clear, Çavuşoğlu reminded that the meeting on the 12th January had been held at foreign minister level and that a roadmap had been determined at that meeting.
He said that the negotiations had continued within that framework.
“However lately, we see that the Greek Cypriot side, particularly over the last 3-4 months has been trying to sabotage the process, not with the aim of ending the process but delaying it. There might be different reasons for this but one of the definite reasons is the upcoming elections in South Cyprus next year. Whereas it is still too early for elections. The Greek Cypriot side entered the election atmosphere quite early. Mr. Anastasiades over the past few days has once again been putting forward preconditions in violation of the 11 February 2014 declaration and the 12 January 2017 statement to attend a new conference in Geneva. Unfortunately the process has entered a deadlock” he said.
Çavuşoğlu also touched upon his meeting with the UN Special Advisor Espen Barth Eide.
“I conveyed to Mr. Eide that we under no circumstances accept any preconditions. We expressed our belief in a settlement. We are ready to go to Geneva on the basis of the standing agreements. We are ready for a five-party conference. We however shall not accept any preconditions,” he said.
BRT