Turkey constitutes the main obstacle for efforts to reach a Cyprus solution, President of the Republic of Cyprus Tassos Papadopoulos said on Friday.
Replying to questions after a lunch hosted by CNA for foreign media correspondents in Nicosia, President Papadopoulos described as unacceptable the statements made on Thursday by Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who spoke about ”two states and two peoples in Cyprus.”
Invited to comment on a statement made by Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat about a new form of a Cyprus solution, the Cypriot President called upon the Turkish Cypriot leader to abide by the July 8th Agreement which he signed in the presence of former UN Undersecretary General Ibrahim Gambari.
“Talat talks and acts in defiance of the agreement he signed. He is obliged to honour his signature. The agreement explicitly states that the solution should be a bizonal, bicommunal federation. Neither a partnership nor two states,” he said.
He added that “by this we can conclude that the main obstacle for a Cyprus solution is Turkey” and noted that ”the statements made by the Turkish President are unacceptable and prove that Turkey has the decisive role for any Cyprus developments.â€
President Papadopoulos also said it would be “naive†to believe that good relations with the Turkish Cypriot leader could contribute to a Cyprus solution, since the key to the solutions lies with Turkey.
“It would be naive to believe that by having good relations with Talat we could solve the Cyprus problem, when Turkey’s policy is so fundamentally in contrast with the Gambari agreement,†he pointed out.
The Cypriot President was also invited to say what his expectations were regarding the forthcoming visit of Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to Ankara.
He expressed hope that the visit would contribute to the further improvement of Greco-Turkish relations, noting that this would have a positive impact on any Cyprus developments.
President Papadopoulos was asked about his decision to sign the bill approved by the House of Representatives regarding natural gas supply in Cyprus.
He explained that he signed the bill, recognising at the same time that this could eventually cause the raising of objections by private companies or by the European Commission with the argument that the bill does not comply with EU regulations on competition law.
The Cypriot President said that he based his decision on the fact that if he had not signed the bill, the procedures that would have followed would have delayed to a great extent the government’s decision to supply Cyprus with natural gas.
On 8 July 2006, President Papadopoulos and Talat, in the presence of the then UN Undersecretary General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari, signed an agreement, involving bicommunal discussions by technical committees of issues affecting the day-to-day life of the people and, concurrently, consideration by expert working groups of substantive issues of the Cyprus problem.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. The Republic of Cyprus entered the EU in May 2004.
