Cyprus negotiations have not collapsed after the recent developments, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said, noting that there has just been a “bump in the road” in process that has been very successful so far.
In statements on Friday at the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Kasoulides said that the reasons for failure at Mont Pelerin talks are due to the fact that internal chapters not meant for a multi-party conference were not conclusive.
“It is a bad tactic to move them on to the multilateral conference, because this negates the position that all internal chapters are Cypriot led and of Cypriot ownership,” he said.
He added that including with discussion on the security issue, which is an external chapter, is something the Turkish side is seeking, an opinion not supported by the Greek Cypriot side.
The Minister said that therefore no date was given for the last and final mile, which would be a multilateral conference between the two communities and at least the three guarantors as stakeholders.
Kasoulides has expressed the belief that this will be corrected in the coming weeks, since none of the sides is contemplating to end negotiations.
Multilateral conference
He has said that the difficulties that appear have to do with connecting the multilateral conference with the territorial issue, for a give and take phase.
This is wrong, he said, explaining that Cypriots must agree among themselves about all the internal subjects and “then we will deal with the international conference regarding the fate of the security.”
He pointed out that when we talk about security, then both sides have to feel equally secure.
Continuing the unilateral right of intervention of Turkey, which Turkey interprets as military intervention for the future, means that the Turkish Cypriots will feel 100 per cent secure but the Greek Cypriots will feel 100 per cent insecure, the minister noted
“Both sides must be prepared for a compromise. Our side is prepared to accept a certain period of time at the end of which Cyprus will be totally independent and sovereign and I think on this we can negotiate and have a compromise,” Kasoulides added.
Asked about the role of the guarantor powers, he said that Turkey at the moment insists on maintaining the treaty of guarantees, which was interpreted by Turkey as meaning right of unilateral military intervention under which and according to them they invaded in Cyprus not to restore the constitutional order, not to maintain the unity and territorial integrity of Cyprus, but to stay for the last 40 years.
“And I hope that this time when we will agree they will withdraw,” he said.
He added that Greece is no longer interested in being a guarantor power, while the UK position is that they will only respond to the requests of both sides and then they will consider ending their participation in a treaty of guarantee for the future.
“One of the roles of the guarantors in sitting at the multilateral conference to discuss the chapter of security is to decide about the future of this treaty of guarantee that only one of the participants wishes to continue on with,” Kasoulides said.
Source: CNA
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