Presidential Spokesman Barış Burcu has said that Greek Cypriot statements that only territory and property would be discussed in the leaders’ upcoming meetings in Mont Pèlerin, Switzerland were “misleading’ and ‘unfortunate”.In a written statement yesterday, Burcu said all the chapters involving a solution to the Cyprus Problem would be on the table, adding this had been mentioned in a UN announcement on Wednesday.
“The agreement reached between the two sides is that the talks in Mont Pèlerin will take place under the auspices of the UN. The UN announcement also contains another important element, that work in Switzerland over the five days is taking place to make a solution before the end of 2016 possible,” Burcu said.
The Presidential Spokesman also stated that even if no agreement was reached in Switzerland, the meeting would open up the way to a five-party meeting involving guarantors Turkey, Greece and the UK.
All, this, he said, meant that statements by the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and his Spokesman Nicos Christodoulides that only territory and property would be discussed: “is unfortunately a statement that is misleading and unfortunate for the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot community”.
Burcu also complained about Christodoulides saying that Turkey remaining on as a guarantor power and the non-return of Güzelyurt were deal-breakers. “This attitude is not acceptable,” Burcu said.
“I would like to give Mr. Christodoulides a friendly warning which is that they will not be able to achieve anything by constantly repeating such slogans. The Greek Cypriot side, at this critical last phase, must refrain from distorting the facts and creating hostility between the two sides. What the two sides need to do is to sincerely work for an agreement. This is what the Turkish Cypriot side has been doing for the past 17 months”, he said.
Burcu also pointed out that the 1960 Treaty of Guarantees and Alliance has five signatories and could not be scrapped just because the Greek Cypriot side wanted it to be so.
“What needs to be done is to update the 1960 Treaties to the present conditions. If the Greek Cypriot side’s true intention is to reach a solution then it must abandon its memorized stance which opposes a settlement”, the Presidential Spokesman added.
BRT
