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Roundup: Turkey says it supports negotiations for Cyprus settlement

Xinhua, June 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Turkey supports negotiations between Turkish and Greek Cypriots for a solution to the four decade-old Cyprus problem, said Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim during a short visit to the northern part of the eastern Mediterranean island on Wednesday.

The northern part of Cyprus was occupied by Turkey in 1974 in reaction to a short-lived coup engineered by the military rulers of Greece at the time, forcing 170,000 Greek Cypriots out of their homes. It was the prime minister's first visit to the region since he was made prime minister last month.

The Cypriot government considers such visits by officials of the Turkish government to be illegal.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, who also acts as leader of the Greek Cypriots, suspended negotiations on May 23, after Turkey invited Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to attend a dinner for world leaders in Istanbul during the World Humanitarian Summit.

Akinci called for the resumption of the negotiations and Yildirim said protocol issues such as those in Istanbul, which he called "details" and "typicalities," must not detract from efforts to solve the problem.

Turkey withdrew recognition of Cyprus after it set up a breakaway state in the occupied part of the island. The breakaway state is recognized only by Turkey.

In a remark that may signal a change of tactics but also seen by the Cypriot authorities as an effort to upgrade the status of the breakaway state, Yildirim said he would like "President Anastasiades to meet with our president" and Akinci to meet with Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister of Greece.

Yildirim said the basic issue in a solution is to have a bi-communal state made up of the Greek Cypriots, who comprise about 80 percent of the population and the Turkish Cypriots, who represent 20 percent of the population.

"The problem which has to be solved is the equal representation of the two communities," said Yildirim.

But he refrained from referring to a Greek Cypriot demand to withdraw an estimated 45,000 Turkish soldiers and repatriating tens of thousands of settlers from Turkey.

He also did not comment on a demand by Greek Cypriots that all 1960 guarantee rights given to Turkey, Greece and Britain that include intervention rights be abrogated for a solution to be accepted.

"We'll support the negotiations until the end, but it should be made known that the smallest wrong done to our Cypriot brothers will mean a wrong done to Turkey," said Yildirim.

A United Nations official has started sounding the two sides on resuming negotiations but a new meeting between Anastasiades and Akinci is not expected before the Cypriot foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulidis meets UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York early next week. Endit