Ankara expects fair report from new Cyprus envoy
SERKAN DEMİRTAŞ - ANKARA
Ankara has expressed its expectations for a fair and objective report on Cyprus from the U.N. special envoy, the diplomatic sources told Hurriyet Daily News.
The message was conveyed by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his deputy, Ambassador Burak Akçapar, who held talks with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ personal Cyprus envoy, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, in the capital Ankara on Feb. 8.
Cuellar, who was appointed to this position by Guterres in January, concluded her first regional tour after stops in Cyprus, Greece and Turkiye. She is also expected to hold meetings with British officials in London.
Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom are guarantor countries of Cyprus, divided between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots for decades.
Cuellar’s task is to report to Guterres whether there is ground for a new U.N.-led peace initiative to reunite the island.
During her talks in Ankara, she was reminded that her mission is limited to looking into whether there is common ground between the two communities on the island for launching negotiations.
“We told her our expectations that the report she will pen has to reflect the situation on the island in a fair, objective and righteous manner,” sources stressed.
“The unavoidable pre-condition of the Turkish Cypriot side for the resumption of the negotiations is the recognition of their rights, including sovereignty equality and equal international status,” the sources said.
Ankara has full support to the Turkish Cypriot administration in this respect, they added.
Following the denial of the Greek Cypriot administration for sharing power with the Turkish Cypriots and therefore reunifying the island in 2017 at Crans Montana, Turkiye and the Turkish Cypriots have announced that they will no longer negotiate a solution on the U.N. parameters that stipulate a bizonal, bicommunal federation with Greek Cypriots. The Greek Cypriots rejected the Annan Plan that sought to reunite the island in a referendum in 2004 although the Turkish Cypriots voted overwhelmingly in favor of it.
The solution should prevail in the approval of the sovereign equality of the Turkish Cypriots with an equal international status, they suggest.
Cuellar’s mandate is for six months and Turkiye has accepted her mission on the condition that it won’t be extended.
