Cypriot sides should seize ‘window of opportunity,’ Turkish Cypriot FM says

WASHINGTON

Turkish Cyprus’ Foreign Minister Özdil Nami is in Washington to meet with senior State Department officials and members of Congress.

The 50-year-old Cyprus problem does not have any dimension left to be discussed, according to Turkish Cyprus’ foreign minister, who said both sides should seize upon the “window of opportunity.”

Özdil Nami, who is in Washington to meet with senior State Department officials and members of Congress, attended a conference at U.S.-based think tank Woodrow Wilson on March 10. The foreign minister said he believed that conditions had matured for a permanent solution based on two communities and that they were in the final stage of a possible breakthrough.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Nami said they had every reason to be hopeful over the reunification negotiations which restarted last month while emphasizing that there was an important window of opportunity for a solution.

He said both sides agreed on issues of sovereignty, international identity, citizenship and the political rights of constituent states but added that solving the remaining issues of property, land, security and guarantees would require tough talks.

The top diplomat said core differences with the Greek Cypriots could be resolved in a “matter of months,” in another interview with the Washington Times. “What is required now,” he added, “is the political determination to reach compromises.”

Nami also stressed that the Obama administration had helped the push toward reunification.

Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland traveled to Cyprus ahead of the talks, and her visit was “quite instrumental in putting the final dot on the paper,” Nami told the daily.