GREEK Foreign Minister George Papandreou said yesterday he believed a political settlement in Cyprus could be achieved “very soon” if the political will existed in Turkey.
“I believe we can settle the Cyprus problem. We are very close, but political resolve is needed. If this resolve is there, this region will become a region of stability and Turkish Cypriots will also join the EU,” he said during an official visit to Ankara.
He also said a solution in Cyprus would serve everybody’s interests and strengthen Turkey’s European course, but he questioned claims by Ankara that Cyprus was of paramount importance to Turkey for its security.
The issue would be discussed at his meetings with Turkish government officials in the context of the UN peace plan, he said.
“A deal on this specific issue would be a very important development and to a certain degree this issue is somehow autonomous in that it concerns our two countries, within the framework of the UN plan,” the minister added.
Papandreou said he was not quite sure what Turkish government officials meant when they kept repeating Cyprus was extremely important for their country’s security.
“I wonder where is the threat? Why does Cyprus pose a security issue for Turkey? I have often said that both Greece and Turkey have made mistakes with regard to Cyprus, so let go of Cyprus, let it be free and we should just be there to support the Cypriots,” he said.
In Ankara, Papandreou is due to meet the President, Prime Minister, and Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the ruling Justice and Development party AKP, to discuss Cyprus, Turkey’s accession partnership and other related issues.
Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said yesterday that UN the special adviser Alvaro de Soto would brief President Glafcos Clerides about his meetings in Ankara earlier this week.
“I expect that De Soto will clarify his statement that he discussed the territorial issue of the Cyprus question with the Turkish leadership,” Papapetrou said after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.
Asked to comment on the possibility of having to negotiate on a new peace plan, the spokesman said the government did not wish to express its views on such matters in public.
“First of all we have not been told by anybody that there will be a new document and secondly public remarks could make the work of the UN more difficult,” he added.
Talks between the two leaders aiming at reaching a settlement by February 28, will continue this afternoon.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
