Cyprus Talks: Last chance for Cyprus to reach a settlement: Mustafa Akinci

President of Turkish Republic of North Cyprus TRNC, Mustafa Akinci has said that the five-party conference on the Cyprus issue which is set to take place in Geneva on January 12th, 2017 will be the last opportunity for both sides of the divided island to reach a solution.

In an interview with ‘Al Jazeera,’ Akinci said, if there is no settlement, there will be no attempt to try again in the near future. He also stressed that there will be no new effort to reach a settlement in Cyprus if the talks in Geneva fail to achieve the desired results.

He added that the aim of the two sides is to hold a referendum at the end of the negotiations process and that “they wish for the process to be concluded after so many years”.

“Therefore, this is the last stage now. A lot of progress has been achieved until today on various chapters of the Cyprus problem, but some issues are still waiting for an agreement. These are some issues including the chapters of governance, property, territory and issues of security and guarantees.

Akinci said that if a solution is reached on these issues at the Geneva Summit, reference could be made to a referendum which is the target.

However, he said if these issues cannot be achieved and a solution cannot be achieved in Cyprus within a federal framework, they will return and say this honestly to our communities.

He said that the two communities have been trying to settle this issue for 50 years. Twelve years ago we came very close, we held a referendum. Even though as Turkish Cypriots we said yes, the other community said no and we got no result.

Now I am saying it clearly: We are exerting the last effort of our generation. Mr Anastasiades and I are people of the same generation. We want to leave a more viable island to the future generations. […]”

When asked whether the hope for a solution in the near future will be exhausted if there is no solution in Geneva, Akinci replied:

“Unfortunately, if such a situation occurs, I do not think that such window of opportunity could open again easily. Therefore, it would not be wrong if it was described as the last chance”.

“I believe it is possible to set a date for a referendum in Geneva. While it is not certain whether we will reach that stage, if we do end up setting a date it will most likely be for the middle of 2017. We shall be putting everything we have agreed on, compiled in a settlement plan, to the vote” he said.

Akinci stated that he expected both Greece and the Greek Cypriot side to take concrete steps in Geneva, and pointed out that Turkey was doing all it could in terms of contributing to the process.

BRT, Al Jazeera