Turkish Cypriot President Eroglu briefed the Assembly on Wednesday on the progress of the Cyprus talks.
The briefing lasted six and a half hours during which the president called for the start of substantial negotiations to begin.
Eroglu informed the MPs on his stance regarding certain proposals by the Greek Cypriots and about the acceleration of the peace process. He also informed them of the work of the technical committee and the advisory council he had established for the negotiations.
“Our effort is for the negotiators to move onto substantial issues and gain positive results in the negotiations with meetings which will be held more often“, he said, adding that at this stage the negotiations could be speeded up within a short period of time.
In statements after the briefing, Foreign Minister, Ozdil Nami said that the President had briefed them on the proposals submitted by the Turkish Cypriot side and the views of the Greek Cypriot side. He noted that the meeting was productive and contributed to the clarification of some issues and added that it had been agreed that it was necessary to meet more frequently.
Nami said that the tempo of the negotiations did not reflect the “power of the joint declaration and the positive impression it created on the two peoples” and described as “unacceptable” that the Greek Cypriot side insisted that the presidents should meet only once a month. Nami expressed the view that the negotiators and the leaders should meet more often.
He also pointed out that forthcoming elections in Turkey and in the TRNC could deflect from the talks and that negotiations on both sides should be much more intensive and involve wider participation.
There was broad agreement at the Assembly that the negotiation process needed speeding up, however some parties felt that they had been left out of the talks. According to Turkish Cypriot daily ‘Havadis’, CTP and TDP party members wanted to establish a parliamentary commission with regard to the negotiations, however, the UBP and DP fully supported President Eroglu.
The paper writes that the chairman of the main opposition National Unity Party (UBP), Huseyin Ozgurgun while expressing his party’s full support of President Eroglu in the negotiations, argued that in order for a lasting agreement to be reached in Cyprus, “the interests of the Turkish Cypriot people and established UN parameters” should be considered. However, he added that he had no hopes for the solution because of the stance of the Greek Cypriots and warned that “history should be read well”.
