Greek Cypriots use Cyprus talks to drive Turkey into corner: Turkish Cypriot FM

ISTANBUL

Deputy PM and Foreign Minister of Turkish Cyprus, Kudret Özersay visited Istanbul to attend the 10th Bosphorus Summit held under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey.

“Greek Cypriot side uses Cyprus talks as a tool to drive the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey into a corner, not as an instrument to solve the Cyprus problem”, Özersay told CNN Türk reporter in an interview on Nov. 28.

Assessing the trilateral meeting held in Berlin, Özersay reminded that the Cyprus talks have been going on since 1968 and that half a century has passed without results.

“There is nothing about the negotiation process. No date, no calendar,” he said, referring to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s latest statement.

Mustafa Akıncı and Nikos Anastasiades, the leaders of Cyprus' divided communities, attended a dinner on Nov. 25 in Berlin hosted by the U.N. chief, seeking to find a way forward to resume talks.

'Negotiations are exploited'

“For example, to ensure the continuation of the drills of companies licensed by the Greek Cypriot administration in the Eastern Mediterranean, they [Greek Cypriot administration] can say 'Cyprus negotiations are going on already, there is no situation that you will have to worry. We will agree with Turkish Cypriots, so you continue your work' [to the companies]. There is an instrument in which negotiations are exploited and used to manage the situation,” Özersay said.

The Cyprus problem has remained unresolved for decades despite a  series of efforts by the United Nations, while recent tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean have further complicated the problem.       

Turkish Cyprus disputes the Greek Cypriot administration's claim to be the sole legitimate government of the whole of Cyprus, while the Greek Cypriots oppose recognizing the political equality of the Turkish Cypriots.       

The island has been divided into a Turkish Cypriot government in the northern third and Greek Cypriot administration in the south since a 1974 military coup aimed at Cyprus' annexation by Greece.       

Turkey's military intervention as a guarantor power in 1974 had stopped years-long persecution and violence against Turkish Cypriots by ultra-nationalist Greek Cypriots.