Turkish Cypriot negotiator Kudret Özersay and Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis met yesterday for four hours in the UN Buffer Zone, ‘Kibris Postasi’ reported.
Özersay evaluated the meeting for the press. He said that the Greek Cypriot side submitted a paper on the economy and the Turkish Cypriots submitted a paper on the issue of citizenship. He added that EU affairs and citizenship were top of the agenda in yesterday’s meeting
Stating that the meeting had a warmer and friendlier atmosphere compared to the previous meetings, Özersay said that certain issues were clarified. “The Greek Cypriot position on EU is now more clear for us but I can’t say that we are pleased by it”, he added and said that there are major gaps between two side’s approaches.
Özersay said they also discussed the issue of citizenship and that the two sides should have mutual understanding and that it’s important that these issues are dealt with through honest discussions.
Özersay mentioned that the Greek Cypriot side had submitted a paper on the economy however, he said it wasn’t discussed as it contained too many technical details.
In the course of yesterday’s meeting, the upcoming leaders meeting was also evaluated and preparations were made for the leaders meeting to be more productive.
Update:
According to ‘Phileleftheros’ newspaper the Turkish Cypriot side proposal on citizenship has been found to be “unacceptable by the Greek Cypriot side”.
‘Phileleftheros’ writes that the Turkish Cypriot position on citizenship is based on the idea in which all TRNC citizens would automatically become citizens of the new state after solution.
According to the news report the Greek Cypriot side’s response to the Turkish Cypriot position was communicated by Mavroyiannis yesterday.
The Greek Cypriot negotiator said “The Turkish Cypriot approach to citizenship is unacceptable, accepting it would mean giving our consent to colonization which is a war crime”.
EU was one of the topics of yesterday’s meeting and according to ‘Phileleftheros’ the Greek Cypriots have said that “agreeing to divert from EU norms would mean the Cyprus Republic is neglecting its obligations as an EU member”.
