Turkish statements on Cyprus are nothing but proof of Ankara’s objective to legitimise its illegal actions on the island, the government said on Friday.
Responding to comments by Turkish officials made on Thursday, deputy government spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos said the unacceptable state of affairs on the island was the product of the Turkish invasion in 1974 and the continuing occupation of territory.
“What is expressed by the Turkish foreign minister and the Turkish EU minister, are nothing but proof of Turkey’s objective which is none other than legitimising its illegal actions,” Papadopoulos said.
The position of president Nicos Anastasiades and the UN is that a solution must be found on the basis of previous UN resolutions and agreements between the two sides, he added.
Turkey’s EU Minister, Omer Celik, said on Thursday that the Cyprus settlement talks were “not suspended, nor frozen”, but “over”.
He added that despite the Turkish side’s positive approach, at the Conference on Cyprus that ended inconclusively last month in Switzerland, a solution was not achieved.
Also Thursday, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Greek Cypriot positions on security and guarantees post-Crans Montana were an excuse, and that they did not really want a solution within the UN parameters.
According to Bayrak TV station in the north, Cavusoglu said that the Greek Cypriots did not want to share governance and power and that the issue of security and guarantees was just an excuse.
Papadopoulos said it was Turkey that led the talks to collapse with its intransigent positions in a bid to justify efforts to implement a so-called plan b to legitimise the facts on the ground it has unlawfully created.
The spokesman reiterated Anastasiades’ readiness to return to the negotiations provided Turkey adhered to the parameters set by the UN secretary general.
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