Cyprus Talks: “We shall see if the Greek Cypriot side still retains the same position” - Akinci

Turkish Cypriot President, Mustafa Akıncı has said that he will see whether or not they were still where they left off 10 months ago in the Cyprus reunification talks when he meets with the Greek Cypriot president, Nicos Anastasiades at a social dinner on Monday night.

According to Akinci, Anastasiades was well aware of this.

Speaking at Ercan Airport before departing for Istanbul on Wednesday where he will be delivering a speech at the 21st Eurasian Economic Summit, Akıncı noted that he will be meeting with leaders of the political parties on Friday morning to assess the situation ahead of the informal meeting with Anastasiades.

He pointed out that it will be the first time he will be meeting with Anastasiades since the talks collapsed 10 months ago noting that a natural delay had been experienced due to the elections on both sides of the island.

We shall see if the Greek Cypriot side still retains the same position it had 10 months ago. Is there a change in the way they think? We shall be meeting to see if this is the case or not he said.

Akıncı said that Monday night’s dinner was an informal meeting and was not the resumption of the talks which collapsed in Crans Montana last year and according to him, any new talks will not be a resumption of the previous process.

That process ended and was closed. 50 years have passed since that framework was first adopted. It is clear that such open-ended and long processes will not take us anywhere. We shall be assessing the situation, looking to see where there is any intention to build or shape a common future, whether or not we can work on a basic vision and whether or not we can agree on the modalities. We want to understand and at the same time share our own views. This is the framework of the social dinner. The Greek Cypriot leader is aware of this and that is what will happen on April 16  he stressed.

BRTK