‘Federation is unaccepetable’

Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün said transforming the island of Cyprus into a federation was not an acceptable solution to the Cyprus dispute.

“Our attitude is clear on this issue, a solution based on two equal states, and this is in line with the U.N.’s approach to the Cyprus issue,” he said.

Turkish-Greek negotiations entered a determinant phase after the tripartite meeting in New York last month. Turkish Cyprus reacted to the Greek Cypriot administration’s negative statements with grief, Özgürgün said in a written statement.

“The Greek Cypriot administration is not showing a bit of patience on the probability of a little hope of a solution, and it avoids this probability by making coordinated statements,” Özgürgün said. “In this context, the negative statements about the New York summit by the Greek Cypriot president’s spokesman, Stefanus Stefanu, are exemplary.”

Özgürgün also said the Greek Cypriot administration should not seek a response from Turkey with such provocative statements. “If Greek Cyprus is expecting to get a response from Turkey as a result of these provocative statements, they should give up this effort immediately.”