The Turkish Cypriot side wants a solution to the Cyprus problem more than anyone else, President Mustafa Akinci has said. This was natural because the Turkish Cypriots were the main victims of the status quo, he said.
Speaking after a meeting of the council of ministers on Tuesday, during which he gave a briefing about the latest developments in the Cyprus problem, Akinci said that Turkey had supported and helped the solution-finding process.
Moreover, Akinci reiterated that the Turkish Cypriots would not tolerate attitudes which did not accept their political equality. The whole world would see the mistakes of the Greek Cypriot side, he added. He went on to argue that should they [the Turkish Cypriots] turn towards other directions in the face of the “wrong attitude of the Greek Cypriots”, the Turkish side would be accused of going outside the UN parameters.
“What I am trying to do is to avoid the continuation of the status quo. I am one of those who exert the most serious effort for doing away with the status quo”, he said, adding that this struggle will be conducted within the UN framework and “if there is a chance, it will be held through negotiations”.
Replying to a question regarding the views of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kudret Ozersay on the issue of federation and the status quo, Akinci said that the parties which make up the coalition government had their own views. Ozersay had said that he was expressing personal views and that as president, he had a duty assigned to him by the people and everyone knew what was the framework of this duty.
Akinci noted that in the UN report after the Crans-Montana conference, the international organisation had drawn up a framework and that this framework was a bi-zonal bi-communal federation. President Akinci said that the UN had said that should the two sides agree on another framework, this could also be explored. He added, however, that no such situation had arisen from Mrs Lute’s contacts and that the Greek Cypriot side wanted decentralisation, without defining the content of this decentralisation.
“In which framework do you want decentralisation”, he asked, adding that if the common state would not have any powers, this means two separate states. Noting that the Turkish Cypriots would not accept their exclusion from decision making, while the Greek Cypriots took all the decisions of the common state, Akinci said that the confusion should be cleared up.
Kibris
