Akinci says he has no objection to EU presence at the talks

Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said he had no objection to an EU representative during the Geneva meetings with the Greek Cypriot side scheduled for January.

In an exclusive interview with New Europe, Akinci said the EU had an observer 12 years ago, when the two sides were negotiating the Annan plan, as the UN blueprint was known.

An “EU representative can also be present during the forthcoming meetings in Geneva,” Akinci said. “We don’t have any objection to that, but we have to agree because so far the agreement covers only the two communities in the first part. In the second half, the agreement covers three guarantor countries and that is clear, we start as two and will develop into five,” Akinci said.

“Who else is going to come, it will be subject to the agreement of both sides. I don’t see any problem with the representation of the EU as an observer in this process.”

Akinci said it would be up to the EU to decide whom to send.

“Most probably, it could be (EU Foreign Affairs chief Federica) Mogherini,” he said, declining to comment further.

The Turkish Cypriot leader was in Brussels where he met various EU officials including Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Mogherini.

“They are all supporting our process and they are looking forward to hearing good news from Cyprus,” he told New Europe.

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.