TRNC President, Dervis Eroglu said yesterday, that he is preparing to send a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the TRNC’s demand for the re-launching of the Cyprus negotiations talks. This letter will include the conditions of the TRNC side.
Speaking on TRT, Eroglu said that at the meeting that he will have with the UN Secretary-General’s special adviser for Cyprus, Alexander Downer in March, they will put forward their desire for the talks to be resumed during Spring, adding that they will also ask Downer to encourage the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades on this point.
Referring to Anastasiades’ election, Eroglu said that they are interested in the policies that Anastasiades will bring to the negotiation table.
Restating that all aspects of the Cyprus problem were discussed at the negotiation table, Eroglu said:
“We can solve this problem, as long as there will be the mutual willingness from the opposite side. We are looking for a Cypriot solution the last four years. All the proposals were submitted by us and were rejected by the Greek Cypriots. We couldn’t find a solution as Cypriots. Which other countries are related with the Cyprus problem? What I say is to call them, let’s call Turkey, Greece and the UK and let’s have a quintet summit“.
Referring to Anastasiades’ statement on the night he was elected as President of the Republic of Cyprus, that the Turkish Cypriots are considered to be their citizens, Eroglu said:
“In the south there is the Greek Cypriot administration and in the north is the TRNC state. This state has its own citizens. But, of course, the Greek Cypriots always make these statements since they want the continuation of the Republic of Cyprus. The Republic of Cyprus is a state which was established and based on the partnership of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriots. We, however, were excluded from this state in 1963. The solution we exert efforts to find at the negotiation table, is based on a new state to be, with two founding states based on the bi-zonal, bi-communal political equality“.
He concluded by reiterating that the EU had, unilaterally granted the Greek Cypriots membership of the EU saying that:
“It was not fair for the EU to accept south Cyprus and Greece, the sides which created the Cyprus problem, as EU members“.
