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Cyprus "greatly distressed" by coup in Turkey, convenes Geo-Strategic Council

Xinhua, July 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Cyprus convened its Geo-Strategic Council on Tuesday to consider the impact of the failed coup in Turkey last Friday after the Cypriot president said the island had experienced "a great distress" on the night the coup started.

Cypriot government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said the distress emanated from the fact that Turkey maintains 43,000 troops on the occupied part of the island.

"No one could say how these troops would act," said Christodoulides.

Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides also said he conveyed Cyprus's great distress to his European counterparts in Brussels, saying that for hours there was no Turkish government in place and no leadership of the Turkish armed forces general staff to control the occupation troops.

Turkey occupied the northern part of Cyprus in 1974, exactly 22 years to the day on Wednesday, reacting to a coup five days earlier by the military rulers of Greece.

President Nicos Anastasiades said he called the meeting of the council to evaluate developments in Turkey since the failed coup, and the possible impact on negotiations with the Turkish Cypriot community leader on an agreement to reunify the eastern Mediterranean island.

"At the moment, there is no need to speculate how the situation in Turkey would affect the Cyprus problem, but it is something that concerns us," said Anastasiades.

Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci are scheduled to have at least three more meetings this month in the framework of a result-oriented intensified phase of the negotiations, aimed to ascertain whether they would be able to clinch an agreement in 2016.

There has already been speculation that developments in Turkey will result in a possible slowdown of the negotiating process.

Akinci said the attempted coup in Turkey had also caused great concern among Turkish Cypriots.

The left-wing politician said he was satisfied that the people of Turkey did not condone coups but he did not hide worries about possible repercussions on the renunciation negotiations.

Anastasiades also expressed hope "that the democratically-elected government (in Turkey) will not act as if there was a successful coup."

Akinci revealed that books by self-exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, the man blamed by Turkey as organizer of the coup, were found burned in a garbage dump in the occupied part of Cyprus. Endit