Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday said there was no reason to lose hope when it came to the negotiations but was clear that nothing should be expected before the constitutional referendum in Turkey next month.
Responding to a question from the Cyprus News Agency in in Brussels, Tsipras said:
“I would not say that we have lost hope, we should stick to our positions with determination and keep open the channels of communication.”
He added: “It is understood that before the referendum we should not expect movements to return to the negotiating table. We should keep monitoring the situation.”
Tsipras said that immediately after the referendum “we will seek to create a positive agenda not only in the context of the Cyprus problem but also regarding Greek-Turkish relations”.
Earlier Tsipras met President Nicos Anastasiades during which five core topics were discussed, government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides told reporters in Brussels afterwards.
“The president expressed his regret over the Turkish side’s decision to withdraw from the talks and also expressed his wish and readiness to resume the talks as soon as possible,“ Christodoulides said.
According to the spokesman, the Greek prime minister briefed the president on Greco-Turkish relations, and the men exchanged views on the internal situation in Turkey, the upcoming referendum and its influence on the Turkish government.
They also discussed important issues on the European Council’s agenda, mainly the debate on the future of Europe.
Anastasiades and Tsipras also “discussed the upcoming trilateral meeting between Cyprus, Greece and the neighbouring states, like Israel, Egypt, and others”.
“We should expect very soon – in May, if you want to be more specific – a new tripartite meeting to be held in Greece,” Christodoulides said.
Finally, they mentioned the upcoming meeting of the southern EU States to convene soon in Spain.
“A date has been fixed around the first ten days of April,” the spokesman said.
“The two leaders exchanged views and coordinated οn the core issues to be discussed at the meeting.”
Meanwhile, Christodoulides told state broadcaster CyBC on Friday morning that, according to high-level EU sources with contact with Turkey, no action can be expected by Turkey in the Cyprus problem talks until the April 16 constitutional referendum in the country.
This view has been repeated by Anastasiades ever since Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci withdrew from the talks two weeks ago.
The claim has been met with unequivocal denials by the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot sides.
However, at an open discussion with UN special representative Espen Barth Eide and Greek Cypriot chief negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis in Washington on Wednesday night, US assistant secretary of state Jonathan Cohen confirmed this view.
“I’ve spent a fair amount of time talking to Turks about this, and asking them very bluntly if they thought it would be possible to make progress in the period between just after Mont Pelerin and the referendum in mid-April,” he said.
“And every Turk I talked to said ‘well, we can’t get a final decision because we won’t be able to get [President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s] attention until after that vote. [But] we can certainly work on filling in the details of the compromise’.”
