Turkey says any peace process for Cyprus should be based on ‘current realities’
ANKARA
Turkey has underlined that any future initiative for the resolution of the decades-old Cyprus problem should be based on “current realities” and on the fact that Turkish and Greek Cypriots have differing conceptions of a new federal state.
“We therefore believe that any process in the coming period can only be successful if it is based on the current realities on the Island and the experience gained from the negotiations conducted during the past half century, and if it aims for suitable expectations and outcomes,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement on Jan. 31.
The ministry’s statement came after the United Nations Security Council renewed the mandate of the U.N. Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for a period of six months on Jan. 30.
It criticized the resolution’s relevant articles over a potential fresh U.N.-led peace initiative on the parameters that have already been observed as collapsed during the latest attempt to establish a federal state in the island through a conference held between June 28, 2017 and July 7, 2017 in Switzerland.
“It also became apparent that the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides had differing conceptions of the new federal state whose establishment was aimed on the Island, and that the Greek Cypriots had no intention of entering into a partnership based on political equality with the Turkish Cypriots. Similarly, another major obstacle to an agreement was the Greek Cypriot side’s categorical rejection of a framework capable of addressing the legitimate security concerns of the Turkish Cypriots, which stem from their tragic past experience,” read the statement.
It also recalled that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu had emphasized that it no longer seemed possible to reach a settlement based on the established parameters.
