Turkey on Wednesday again pushed for a two-state peace deal for Cyprus, as the United Nations prepares to meet with the parties in early spring in hopes of restarting formal talks to resolve the ethnically divided island.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Cyprus “must continue on the path of a two-state solution” and that investing efforts in other arrangements to end Cyprus’ half-century division would be a “waste of time”.
Fidan spoke to reporters after speaking with Ersin Tatar, the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots whose declaration of independence in 1983 in the northern third of Cyprus is recognized only by Turkey.
Cyprus has been ethnically divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup, backed by the junta then ruling Greece, with the aim of uniting the eastern Mediterranean island with the Greek state.
The last major attempt at a peace deal failed in 2017.
Since then, Turkey has pushed for a two-state arrangement in which the numerically smaller Turkish Cypriots would never be a minority in a power-sharing deal.
However, Greek Cypriots do not support the two-state deal, which they see as formalizing the division of the island and maintaining what they see as the threat of a permanent Turkish military presence on the island.
Greek Cypriot officials say the 2017 talks broke down primarily because of Turkey’s insistence on permanently keeping at least some of its 35,000 troops, estimated to be in the island’s breakaway north, and on writing the right to military intervention into the new peace deal.
The United Nations, the European Union and other actors have rejected a two-state deal for Cyprus, saying the only way forward is a federation agreement with Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot zones.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is preparing to host an informal meeting in Switzerland in March to hear what each side envisions for a peace deal. Last year, Guterres’ envoy to Cyprus reportedly concluded that there was no common ground to return to negotiations.
Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said he was ready to resume formal talks immediately, but ruled out any discussion of a two-state arrangement.
Tatar, the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots, said the meeting would involve the two sides in Cyprus, the foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey and a senior British official to determine “next steps” regarding the future of Cyprus.
A peace deal would not only remove a source of instability in the eastern Mediterranean, but could also accelerate the development of natural gas fields within Cyprus’s disputed coastal economic zone.
(Vijesti.ba)
