Following President Mustafa Akıncı’s five-hour briefing with parliament, main opposition leader National Unity Party (UBP) Ersin Tatar has said that his party’s position on the Cyprus Problem was clear and that there was no strong consensus between the UBP and President Akıncı on the Cyprus Problem.
In a written statement issued on Wednesday, Tatar said that the remarks made by the Speaker of the Republic’s Assembly Teberrüken Uluçay following Tuesday’s extraordinary session of parliament had created the false perception that there was, in fact, a strong consensus between all parties and MPs in the Republic’s Assembly.
“The President informed parliament on the latest developments and we shared our own views. It’s not possible to disclose exactly what was discussed because the session was held behind closed doors but the statements made by the Speaker following the session has led to misperceptions that there is consensus among all the parties and MPs. We would like to stress, once again, that the UBP supports the continuation of Turkey’s unilateral right to intervention and does not agree with President Akıncı who proposed the signing of the Guterres Framework to Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, which aims to bring an end to this, as a strategic framework agreement”, he said.
Tatar also pointed out that it was out of the question for his party to accept the maps brought to the negotiating table which proposed significant territorial concessions.
“The UBP supports a settlement that recognises effective participation in decision making, separate elections, the right to be elected, bi-zonality, the settlement of property and territory issues on the basis of current realities, maintaining the Turkish-Greek balance on the island. The settlement to be reached must become primary EU law as well”, Tatar stressed.
The UBP leader also pointed out that the proposals for federation by the two sides were very different from each other and that the possibility of achieving a federal settlement had ended with the collapse of talks in Crans-Montana in 2017.
“The UBP supports the idea of bringing other alternative options to the table such as confederation, a velvet divorce or a two state solution under EU membership. Mr. Akıncı is refraining from bringing these options to the table which is why the UBP does not and cannot approve of the policy he is adopting at the negotiating table”, Tatar added.
BRT
