Ertug: “A possible compromise will not be a continuation of the Republic of Cyprus”According to illegal Bayrak television (online, 25.04.11), Osman Ertug, spokesman of the Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, evaluating the recent statements made by the Cyprus Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou that the new bi-communal, bi-zonal federation to emerge in the event of a settlement would be born out of the unitary state of the Republic of Cyprus, said that any agreement that ignored the realities that there are two separate political entities, two democracies and two separate states in Cyprus could not be long-lasting or viable.

Ertug also said that such an approach clearly demonstrated the state of misconception the Greek Cypriot side has concerning the kind of settlement aimed in Cyprus.

Noting that it was crystal clear that a new partnership state to be created in Cyprus would not be a continuation of the Republic of Cyprus; he said that no one would be able to persuade the Turkish Cypriots to accept such a solution.

“The 1960 Cyprus partnership Republic, founded by both sides and which only managed to survive for three years because of the Greek Cypriots’ goal to unite the island with Greece was not a unitary state but a functional federation”, he alleged.

Ertug also recalled that the issue of how the new partnership would be founded or what is its starting point had not been discussed in detail in the ongoing negotiations.