Accept political equality with Turkish Cypriot or two Cyprus states will continue - Akinci

The president of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, Mustafa Akinci on Monday said that as time passes, two separate states will be rooted in a divided Cyprus and urged the Greek Cypriot side to carry out a “very serious assessment” of the situation in Cyprus after the failure of the Cyprus reunification talks in Crans-Montana Conference last month.

According to Akinci who was speaking at an event the village of Mehmetçik, if a federal solution were to be reached in Cyprus, it would need to consist of two politically equal founding states and have a rotating presidency. 

Either the Greek Cypriots will accept the politically equal existence of the Turkish Cypriots with a federal understanding, or the existence of two separate entities will continue, Akinci noted.

Akinci said that the Turkish Cypriot side was at the stage of carrying out its own assessments and that the two Cypriot communities should definitely have a peaceful relationship. 

He noted that the Turkish Cypriots want to become part of the world and be rid of the embargoes imposed on them.

Speaking on the recent talks, Akinci said the Greek Cyprus side had gone to the Cyprus negotiations in Mont Pèlerin, Geneva and Crans-Montana thinking that the Turkish Cypriots would take no steps.

Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades (left) and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci,

Akinci who said he had met with various Turkish Cypriot organisations in the past few days established that there was a broad consensus within the Turkish Cypriot community that the Turkish Cypriots did not want to become a minority in a unitary Greek Cypriot state or become a province of Turkey.

Culled from Havadis