Turkish FM signals ‘positive psychological atmosphere’ for solution in Cyprus

NICOSIA - Doğan News Agency

After holding talks in Athens on Dec. 13, Ahmet Davutoğlu met with Turkish Cypriot President Derviş Eroğlu in Nicosia on Dec. 14. AA photo

The current "positive psychological atmosphere" is favorable to find a solution for the Cyprus issue, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Dec. 14 during a press conference with the Turkish Cypriot President Derviş Eroğlu in Nicosia.

He assured that both Turkey and Turkish Cyprus were willing to take advantage of this positive atmosphere to reinitiate the stalled negotiations. 

“Hopefully this will is shared by everyone so that a vision that can bring peace to the island can be developed,” Davutoğlu said, adding that the election of Nicos Anastasiades to the presidency in the south of the island had been a major turning point.

For his part Eroğlu said he had maintained constant communication with Anastasiades by phone and written correspondence.

“If you ask did we achieve what we aimed for, I would say that there is not a solution yet in Cyprus. But we have pursued our search for a solution with all of our good will until today,” Eroğlu said.

Prior to his visit to Nicosia, Davutoğlu held a series of meetings in Athens on Dec. 13 to discuss the details on the procedures of reviving talks between the two parts of the island. Both Turkey and Greece are working on a text that summarizes all previous negotiations of the four-decade-old problem, Davutoğlu told reporters in Greece.

Ankara’s recently intensified Cyprus initiative has garnered support from the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Nations.

Turkish Cypriots plan to complete negotiations in the first quarter of 2014 and to put the peace plan to a referendum in the spring, 50 years after the U.N. issued its first resolution on Cyprus.