President Akinci who met with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday, declined an invitation to attend a reception that evening.
The reception, hosted by the German ambassador to Cyprus, was being held in honour of the German Minister, at the Chateau Status restaurant in the Nicosia buffer zone. Both Akinci and President Anastasiades were invited.
However, according to a written statement by Akinci’s spokesman, although President Akinci held a fruitful meeting with the German minister earlier on in the day, Akinci did not consider it right to attend the reception, much as he would have liked to.
The problem, it appears, was to do with how Akinci would be addressed. Only being referred to as leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, did not reflect the two communities’ equal status as a “known reality”.
Despite reminding the German embassy of this reality, the response given was unsatisfactory.
Burcu added that, according to the information available to the Turkish Cypriot side, Anastasiades would be addressed as ‘President of the Republic’, and Akinci as ‘Turkish Cypriot leader’. It was for this reason that President Akinci decided not to attend the reception.
Cyprus Mail
