All options on table for Cyprus, Bağış says

LONDON

‘The solution may be a reunification. But there can also be a two-state solution or annexation of Turkish Cyprus to Turkey,’ Turkey’s EU minister says.

Turkey might annex Turkish Cyprus if negotiation talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriots to unite the Mediterranean island fail, the Turkish EU minister said.

Egemen Bağış said “all options are on table” on the Cyprus issue including a two-state solution or making Turkish Cyprus a part of Turkey, in an interview with the Turkish Cypriot daily Kıbrıs released on its website yesterday.

“All options are on the table for a solution in Cyprus. The solution may be a reunification, agreed by the two [Cypriot] leaders and accepted by the two communities in the island. But there can also be a two-state solution or annexation of Turkish Cyprus to Turkey,” Bağış said. However, Bağış praised the option of reunification in which all sides would be living in peace and security.

Turkish Cypriot leader Derviş Eroğlu and Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias have been holding talks to reunite the island, but the two sides have been unable to report any significant progress from the negotiations, which have been underway since 2008. 

The EU minister said Turkey would support all the solutions as long as they were accepted by both communities of the island. “There is only one point on which Turkey is sensitive: to ensure political equality between both parties in the island,” said Bağış.

Meanwhile, Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said on March 3 more efforts were needed in Cyprus as the ongoing negotiations were not progressing. Speaking at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoğlu in Istanbul, Terzi said “there had to be tangible progress in Cyprus.” 

“The negotiations in Cyprus have not made progress. We will work with Turkey to overcome the problems in Cyprus,” Terzi said.