Former TRNC President Derviş Eroğlu, referring to the Cyprus talks, has there should be no discussion about territory before a firm date is given for the five-party meeting [which will include the three guarantors, Turkey, Greece and the UK].
Regarding his time in office, Eroğlu said that the UN Secretary-General’s Report dated March 4, 2011, which was published before the meeting in Geneva in 2011, said that “the leaders agreed that they would proceed to the discussion of the territory issue at the end of the process, including numbers and maps”.
Regarding the issue of the rotating presidency, Eroğlu said that it is a UN parameter and added that there were no grounds to make concessions on this. “The cross- voting cannot possibly be accepted because this would mean that the Turkish Cypriot leader in the federation to be, would be elected by the Greek Cypriots”, said Eroğlu.
Evaluating the current phase of the Cyprus negotiations, Eroğlu said that he knows that some progress has been achieved. Referring to the chapter on the EU and the Economy, he said that very few differences had remained in the negotiations on these chapters during his term in office. He noted that those differences have not been resolved yet. “It is a sine qua non for us that there are permanent derogations and the solution becomes EU primary law. From the statements made, I realise that there is no agreement on this. If no agreement is reached on this matter, our people will be driven to the courts”, Eroğlu said.
Regarding the property issue, Eroğlu pointed out that it would be wrong to leave the arrangements of the property issue to a committee after the solution.
On the issue of guarantees and security, he reiterated his well-known position that Turkey’s active and effective guarantees should not be diluted.
Star Kibris
