President Mustafa Akıncı has said that the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades had given a negative response to his call to adopt the Guterres Framework as a strategic framework package for the resumption of the Cyprus talks.
In a written statement issued on Wednesday, the President said that he was greatly disappointed to see the Greek Cypriot leader had blatantly reject his call made on April 30, 2018.
“Even though Mr. Anastasiades has repeatedly stated, on numerous occasions after Crans- Montana, that he supported the Guterres Framework.”
The Greek Cypriot leader, in his latest remarks, has rejected the notions of political equality and effective participation in decision making. He made it clear that he supported the establishment of a structure where decisions would be taken with a simple majority.
“This stance shows that the Greek Cypriot leadership, contrary to its statements, prefers the continuation of the status quo on the island. As it is known, I had stated that on 30 April, 2018 that if the Greek Cypriot side was ready to accept the Guterres framework as it is, without any alterations, we could announce it as a strategic package agreement. I have said that only then will the negotiations fill in the blanks. Mr. Anastasiades spent the last month without responding only to the blatantly reject my proposal in an interview with ‘Phileleftheros’ the other day,” Akıncı said.
President Akıncı reminded that he had confirmed with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a meeting in New York on 23 September 2017, that there was only one framework document that had been presented to the two sides by the UN Chief on 30 June, 2017.
The President also pointed out the views put forward by the Greek Cypriot leader in a letter sent to the UN Secretary-General were outside the framework of the document.
“It’s disappointing to see that this important step, as in previous examples, has not been met with reciprocal steps,” he said, adding that this initiative was taken for a better future for the island.
BRT
