The reality is that there are two separate states in Cyprus - Akinci

President of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, Mustafa Akinci on Thursday said the reality on ground is that there are two separate states in Cyprus, and accused the Greek Cypriot side for lacking the necessary determination to restart reunification talks between the two sides.

Akinci noted that as time passes by, the existence of two separate states get stronger no matter how one saw it.

The reality is there are two separate states in Cyprus. The TRNC, even if it is not recognised, is a reality, he said.

 
Akinci who made the remarks in a message to mark the festival of Eid el-Adha on Thursday said the Greek Cypriot side's recent pre-verbal appeals to restart talks have no meaning and according to him, the south was constantly repeating that it was ready to resume talks within the framework of the UN Secretary General’s parameters, whose content they had failed to meet during the failed conference on Cyprus in Cras-Motana two months ago.

At this stage, verbal appeals had no meaning as the Greek Cypriot side lacked the necessary determination, Akinci was quoted as saying by the Cyprus News Agency, adding that similar procedures would only yield the same results, so the open-ended procedure could not continue.

He accused the Greek Cypriot side for resorting to the blame game and expressed his displeasure that such a historic opportunity was lost.

It is a shame we cannot say the same about the Greek Cypriot side, he said.

Instead of arriving at an agreement inside a logical framework they sought to assign blame. It emerged during the conference that domestic concerns were more important and unfortunately a historic opportunity was lost due to this stance.

Akinci blamed the status quo on the Greek Cypriot side’s struggle for union with Greece, saying Turkish Cypriots were ousted from the common state in 1963.