The Greece Cypriot leader and Greece did not bring any new vision to the Cyprus talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said following the informal 5+1 meeting on Cyprus on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2021) The Greece Cypriot leader and Greece did not bring any new vision to the Cyprus talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said following the informal 5+1 meeting on Cyprus on Thursday.
The informal meeting on Cyprus in Geneva hosted by the UN Secretary-General ran from Tuesday to Thursday. Alongside Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders, the three guarantor states Turkey, Greece and the UK joined the meeting. Earlier on Thursday, UN chief Antonio Guterres said that the participants failed to reach an agreement and would reconvene again probably in two or three months.
"The Greek Cypriot leader could not bring a new vision to the Cyprus talks but repeated their old rhetoric like broken record," Cavusoglu said at a press conference.
Cavusoglu also underlined that Turkey will continue to support the two-state solution based on sovereign equality of the two parts of the island.
"We will continue our determined stance to defend the rights of Turkish Cypriots," he added.
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar also made a statement during the press conference. Tatar underlined that it would be meaningless to sit around the table and begin formal talks unless equal status based on equality is recognized. Tatar added that the Greek Cypriot administration insisted on a federation model and offered "unacceptable" constitutional changes.
The Cyprus dispute is nearly five decades old. The island has been de facto divided since 1974, when an attempt to get Cyprus to join Greece caused Turkey to deploy armed forces there. On November 15, 1983, Turkish Cypriots declared independence of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which is, as of now, recognized only by Turkey.
