President Akinci has said that he had held a “very useful and comprehensive” meeting with the US Secretary of State, John Kerry last week at his office. In statements given after the 40 minute meeting, Akinci noted that they discussed issues related to the future of Cyprus.
Akinci said that reports in the Greek Cypriot press that that the USA had lifted the arms embargo imposed on the Republic of Cyprus were “not true” and added that this issue was discussed in the meeting with Kerry.
Noting that Kerry’s visit was important as far as post-solution Turkish-Greek relations, Turkish-European relations and a united federal Cyprus are concerned, Akinci said that they discussed the issue of financial aid to Cyprus after the solution is found. Akinci said that the USA will help in the financing of the solution, in the context of a collective international effort.
Responding to a question, Akinci described the visits to Cyprus of Foreign Affairs Ministers from various countries as “useful” and added: “It is extremely necessary for everyone who wants to contribute to a solution in Cyprus to visit and listen to the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots, who in the future will participate in a structure of two politically equal founding states in Cyprus”.
He also said that he had “strongly wished” to meet with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov who visited Cyprus on Tuesday. He argued: “We do not expect such important countries to recognise the TRNC. Our stance towards him was not about this. Our meeting had no relation to the tension between Turkey and Russia. This dialogue between us took place ten days before the airplane incident [referring to Turkey shooting down a Russian military jet near its border with Syria]. If we handle the calls for meetings in the buffer zone in this manner, other ministers will not come either. We will be faced with the question as to whether we should move our office to the buffer zone. I hope we will meet in the future”.
Replying to a question about guarantees, Akinci said that this had not come onto the agenda during the meeting with Kerry. He recalled statements that the subject of guarantees will be discussed at the last stage of the negotiations.
Kibris Gazetesi
