Prime Minister Ozkan Yorgancioglu commenting on South Cyprus’ decision to suspend the Cyprus talks, said that there had been similar crises in the Cyprus negotiations process in the past and expressed the belief that the problems could be overcome very soon, Bayrak TV reports.
“The Greek Cypriot side prepared the grounds for the suspension of the talks by granting an Italian company [Eni] permission to carry out seismic research in the area. This is unacceptable”, said Yorgancioglu.
Yorgancioglu said that it was possible to turn all crises into opportunities and called on the Greek Cypriot leadership to exercise common sense.
Reminding that the letter sent by the Greek Cypriot side to the UN only stated that they would not be participating in the talks that were to take place on Thursday, Yorgancioglu said that despite this, the issue has been reflected in a totally different light to the public.
Emphasising the fact that the issue of natural gas was not an issue that was under discussion in the negotiations, he said that it was inappropriate to use the issue of natural gas to halt the negotiations process.
“Natural gas belongs to the Cypriots on the island and will affect the future of the island once a solution is found. For one side to use this as a weapon is unacceptable”, he added.
Moreover, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (TDP) Cemal Ozyigit who also evaluated South Cyprus’ decision to withdraw from the talks said that a new obstacle has been placed in front of the talks at a time when everyone was waiting for the Cyprus issue to end.
“We claim that we were thrown out of the Republic of Cyprus on the 4th of March 1964, the Greek Cypriots claim we ran away but the order established nevertheless continued. At the end of the day Turkey has been here for 40 years to protect the peace and the constitutional order. What has happened, have there been constitutional changes that all of a sudden after 40 years we as Turkish Cypriots have remembered our rights?” he asked.
He said that the Turkish Cypriot side had remembered that it had rights once the issue of natural gas and petrol had come to the agenda, prompting them to work for an immediate solution to the Cyprus problem.
Ozyigit said that both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots possessed equal rights on the island and added that the Cyprus negotiations and talks on natural gas must continue parallel to one another.
He also said that petrol and the issue of the closed city of Maras/Varosha should also be discussed before a comprehensive solution is found to the Cyprus problem.
