Prime Minister Omer Kalyoncu and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, signed the water agreement in Ankara on Wednesday.
The document contains details of how the water from Turkey will be distributed and managed in the North.
Speaking at a joint press conference, Kalyoncu said that the water agreement is of vital importance for the Greek Cypriots as well, in the federal republic to be established after the solution to the Cyprus problem. He said: “We believe that the water should be used from now on towards peace and rapprochement. The positive course of the relations between the TRNC and Turkey at a sensitive period during which the negotiations between the two communities are advancing, is of great importance”.
Arguing that significant ground has been covered in the search for a just and lasting solution, Kalyoncu said that the negotiating process is continuing positively.
Asked to assess the statement made by the Greek Cypriot left-wing AKEL party’s General Secretary that the water agreement between Turkey and North Cyprus does not bind the Republic of Cyprus, Kalyoncu commented that if a federal republic is established, the international agreements made by the South, and international agreements made by the TRNC will be all valid. “I believe that they have made a fuss for nothing and they have got it wrong”, he said.
Kibris Gazetesi
