04/05/2018 09:22
Government Spokesman Prodromos Prodromou has said that Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has from the outset sought and continues to seek the resumption of negotiations for the reunification of Cyprus.
In statements in Larnaka, Prodromou clarified that the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ framework is well known to everyone and its parameters were conveyed by phone to his special adviser Espen Barth Eide on July 4.
“This is the Guterres framework, which is very well known and has been made public,” he said. Commenting on a reference by Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to a non paper put forward at the talks on June 30th, he recalled that on that day the negotiations stalled, which is why the UN Secretary General had to come back with a framework.
“What the President has sought from the outset and what he continues to seek is the resumption of negotiations from where we had left them at Crans – Montana and taking the Guterres framework as a given," he said.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. A UN backed Conference on Cyprus last summer in the Swiss resort of Crans – Montana did not yield any results.
The goal is not to negotiate for the sake of negotiating, Prodromou pointed out, adding that "we are the last to wish for never ending negotiations." The goal, he noted, is to settle the Cyprus problem, end Turkey's occupation, reunify the country by way of a federation and rid Cyprus of any control of foreign states, that is to say to abolish guarantees by other states.
If the Turkish side truly means that it accepts the Guterres framework, that is to say that it has changed its negative approach as it was demonstrated in Crans – Montana which led to a deadlock, then indeed this would be an important development, the spokesman said.
Akinci’s statements however seem to refer to something else and not the Guterres framework, he noted, adding that in any case it is only through dialogue that everything will be clarified.
He expressed hope that the anticipated appointment of an advisor to the UN Secretary General who would sound out the intentions of the two sides would help the effort to resume the peace.