Cyprus Talks: Greek Cypriot side was ‘unprepared’ - Akinci

President of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, Mustafa Akıncı has accused the the Greek Cypriot side for attending the Cyprus conference in Cras-Motana, Switzerland unprepared to handle the steps taken by the Turkish side.

Akinci made the comments during a speech at the Construction and Real Estate Sector Development Strategy Meeting in Lefkoşa on Thursday and according o him, the UN, the EU and third party observers had all seen that the Greek Cypriot side came unprepared.

That is why Mr. Eide’s statements have caused so much upheaval in the South. They are extremely disturbed by the fact that someone from the UN is voicing this Akinci said.

Akinci said that life continued in Cyprus adding that it was important to plan for the future.

It was everyone’s desire that a settlement had taken place but life goes on and we need to make plans said Akıncı, underlining the importance of planning for cities, the economy and all other sectors.

The president added that this planning was part of efforts to reach a settlement as this would make people more prepared in the event of a solution.

In stinging attack on the Greek Cypriot side's part in the failure of the talks, Akinci said the Greek Cypriot president, showed that he wasn't ready for a solution.

Mr. Anastasides dragged his feet all these meetings. You can be sure of this. All three meetings ended without any results he said.

According to him, the Greek Cypriot side had panicked when the Turkish Cypriot side had accepted 29.2% on the maps issue.

Mr. Anastasiades had asked everyone in the room to leave before he turned to me and told me he was sorry and unprepared. We travelled with a scheduled flight, he and his delegation travelled with a private plane. He wanted to speak with Athens. We told him to go and come back. He asked for 10 days. More importantly he used the name of the leader of the Greek Cypriot party AKEL. They had a domestic political dispute. The truth was they did not want to take any steps regarding a 5 party conference he said.

Akıncı noted that the Greek Cypriot side was faced with a similar situation in Geneva when the Turkish Cypriot side presented its map.

They were not expecting to see such a map. This time it was Greece which stated that it was not ready. And so both Greece and the Greek Cypriots went to Crans-Montana thinking the Turkish side would not make any openings he said.

He stated that Greece’s and the Greek Cypriot side’s aim in Crans-Montana was to put all the blame on Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side.

We never accepted the idea of 0 troops and 0 guarantees. We proposed steps and waited for the other side to budge. We showed flexibility by protecting the rights of the Turkish Cypriots. All parties attending the conference saw that the Greek Cypriot side was not prepared he added.

Akinci noted that the source of the problem in Cyprus was not the UN’s parameters but the Greek Cypriot side’s mentality, adding that a settlement within these parameters was not possible as long as the Greek Cypriots’ mentality remained the same.

BRT