We don’t expect talks to resume up to the Turkish elections
24 April 2018, DIALOGOS web page
AKEL General Secretary Andros Kyprianou has proposed a package approach procedure to the negotiations on the Cyprus problem.
Speaking to “Astra” radio station, the General Secretary of AKEL said that no one can expect up to the Turkish elections in June that there will be some substantive move surrounding the Cyprus problem. If we really want a solution, he said, preparations must be made for the resumption of the talks after the Turkish elections will be held. The framework of the preparation, he noted, is very clear and the UN Secretary-General is awaiting the statement of the two leaders that they are ready to begin talks on the basis of the framework and the informal document that Antonio Guterres himself tabled.
The General Secretary of AKEL reiterated his support for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who, among other things, refers to the abolition of the guarantees and to the territorial issue including the return of Morphou, which is precisely why a package approach of the negotiations must be made A. Kyprianou pointed out.
Replying to a question as to whether AKEL does not reject the transportation of natural gas through Turkey, Andros Kyprianou clarified that his Party stands in favour of the Christofias-Talat convergence which stipulates that the natural gas will be a federal competency and not a competency of the two constituent states. He also added that he proposed that the possibility of the natural gas pipeline passing through Turkey after the solution of the Cyprus problem and under specific conditions should be examined.
With regard to Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu’s statements for a two-state solution or confederation, AKEL wondered whether some political parties in Cyprus who are insisting on a change in strategy on the Cyprus problem are in fact helping Turkey to put forth its own terms for a solution outside the parameters of the UN.
