Turkey cannot choose issues to be solved

Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos has said ”Turkey cannot choose by preference what issues will be solved at the end of the procedure for a Cyprus settlement and what can be discussed now.”

Speaking at Larnaca Airport before his departure for Helsinki to participate in the Informal European Council, President Papadopoulos said that if Turkey does not want to accept the help offered by the European Union for the avoidance of a crisis between the two sides, this is Turkey‘s problem.

”Cyprus cannot be called on to pay the price of help which Finnish Presidency is trying to give to Turkey to fulfill its obligations undertaken towards European Union,” he pointed out.

Asked why the Finnish Presidency has called on the Turkish Cypriot side to discuss the issue of the return of Famagusta to the Greek Cypriots and not from Turkey, President Papadopoulos said ”it is an issue concerning the Finnish Presidency.”

He added that Turkey repeatedly says it cannot implement its obligations towards EU concerning the additional Protocol, extending its customs union to the ten new member states, including Cyprus, if the so-called isolation of the Turkish Cypriots is not lifted.

The Finnish Presidency, he noted, is exchanging ideas with all interested parts so that help can be given to Turkey to implement its obligations to Europe.

”For this facilitation to Turkey, we set as an inviolable term the return of the fenced-off town of Famagusta to its legal inhabitants and owners of the land,” he concluded.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied its northern third.

Turkey, a country aspiring to become an EU member state, does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus and refuses to implement the EU-Turkey Customs Union Protocol, by opening its ports and airports to Cyprus.

According to reports, the Finnish Presidency of the EU is promoting a proposal providing for the opening of the Turkish occupied port of Famagusta under EU administration for 24 months, in combination with the opening of Turkish ports to ships carrying the Cypriot flag and the transfer of the closed city to the UN.