AKEL on the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Greece and Turkey

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 22 March 2019, Nicosia

Meetings such as the one held between the Greek and Turkish Foreign Ministers should function as a form of preparation for the resumption of the negotiation procedure on the Cyprus problem. We consider the fact that the intention has been expressed that these meetings should be continued as positive.

At the same time, it is evident that the only way we can discern Turkey’s real positions on the critical issues of security and guarantees is for the negotiations to resume. We recall that at Crans Montana the position of the Secretary General of the UN, which was included in the Guterres Framework, is the abolition of guarantees and intervention rights from day one of the solution and the speedy withdrawal of the occupying soldiers.

Consequently, the key issue remains that the terms of reference should be agreed as soon as possible so that talks can resume from where they have remained. That is where Turkey will either cooperate towards a solution or be exposed, something that isn’t happening today.