The minister said an important international conference will be held in Geneva on 9-12 January 2017 in order to determine the future of Cyprus.
“Apart from leaders of the two sides, the three guarantors—Turkey, Greece, and the UK—will also join the event for the first time to hold serious discussions about the history, security, and guarantee of Cyprus,” said Kasoulides.
Turkey claims to have the right to launch unilateral military intervention in the island, the FM said, noting that Cyprus does not accept this position of Turkey.
“The discussions held so far would result in agreement that the conflict and its solutions should be solved between the two communities of the island and they are the only parties to engage in discussions,” he said, adding. “It’s true that we too hold negotiations and we’re already stepping towards settling this problem on all provisions. But there is one truth that the problem will either be solved or end up in failure. That’s a question of security.”
Kasoulides stressed that for the first time after 19 months of discussions, Cyprus is going to hear the official position of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and that of his government.
“Erdogan and his government have always supported the negotiation process and an early solution to the conflict. In my opinion, there are some factors showing that the situation is developing in a positive way,” the FM said. “Thus far, the Turkish Army used to take such a position that there is no need to discuss the Cyprus issue, claiming that is was solved in 1974 when the Turkish Army entered the island. Now we can say that Erdogan can make more free decisions on this issue.”
Kasoulides went on to say that Turkey’s decision on the solution of the Cyprus issue can be affected by the situation in northern Syria, the Kurdish issue and the situation in Mosul.
Asked about the fate of the Turkish side of the island in case of unification of Cyprus, the foreign minister replied: “In case Cyprus unites, the Turkish side will get an accession to the EU immediately. Immediately after the agreement, the whole island will become a member of the EU. In case Cyprus unites, it will be a bi-communal and bi-zonal federal state.”
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