Cyprus Talks: Akinci sad over failed talks, expresses fear for future generation

President of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, Mustafa Akinci has expressed his sadness over the collapsed of the Cyprus reunification talks held in Crans-Montana, Switzerland where both sides of the divided Mediterranean island failed to reached an agreement.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t manage to complete the last trial of our generation to reunify the island successfully, Akinci said.

Akinci made the remarks in a press conference held following the failure of the Cyprus Conference which was attended by both sides and the three guarantor countries in, Turkey, Greece and the UK.

According to Akinci, he and his delegation are all sad that no agreement was reached but noted, that there would not have been any conference had it not been for the particular efforts made by the Turkish Cypriot side.

Akin said he was frustrated by the lack of positive result but that he had done everything he could and his conscience was clear.

The talks, he said had reached a point where a deal could have been reached, but it was at that point that the talks failed and both sides have lost out. This chance we lost might hardly ever come again, he added.

Akinci thank his colleagues for their effort and in particular his chief negotiator Ozdil Nami. He also thanks UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and those who had hosted the conference and according to him, it is not the end of the world, adding that the Turkish Cypriots would continue to find ways to to exist in dignity, as a worthy society.

Akinci said a federal solution after the talks collapse would be very, very difficult.

He said the future generations now face a much tougher struggle for reunification since this conference failed to produce the results he had striven for. 

I wish the next generation good luck on this and that one day maybe Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots will decide together that there is no longer a need for troops on the island, he said.

 
According to Akinci, the Turkish Cypriot side had offered some territory provided that the Greek Cypriots agreed to a rotating presidency, as had been proposed by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of which the Greek Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades had agreed to but later added that this would only be on the proviso that the Turkish Cypriot side accepted a map outlining territory as decided by the Greek Cypriot side and that guarantees for the island were abolished and all Turkish troops withdrawn from Cyprus. But this was rejected in no uncertain terms by Turkey. 

Akinci who noted that Turkey had been ready to show flexibility on the issue of guarantees and troops said it had been very apparent to him that the conference would be more difficult than in 2003, after the Annan Plan was rejected.
Asked about the next steps for the Turkish Cypriot side, Akinci said: 

Let’s return to Cyprus to talk about what our next plan will be. We only came here with plan A to reunify the island.

This is not the end of the world. We will find a way to live with honour. We will manage this, he added.