Turkish Cypriot illegal Bayrak television (04.07.11, online) reports that Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, speaking to Bayrak Haber news channel, said that his team is heading to Geneva well prepared. “There are areas where we can show flexibility. We have mapped out a full strategy on which areas we can make concessions” he said.

Stating that it will not be possible to reach a solution to the Cyprus problem with the efforts of one side alone, Eroglu said that efforts towards a solution can only produce positive outcomes if made by both sides. “We are going to Geneva with the aim of pushing the Greek Cypriot side towards a solution because the time that passes by is not a problem for the Greek Cypriots,” Eroglu claimed.

Repeating the Turkish Cypriot side’s desire for the introduction of a timeframe and deadlines in the talks, Eroglu said they wanted to depart from Geneva with an outcome that would show the “Cyprus Turks” where they were heading. “I ask, how much longer will the direct talks drag on endlessly without a result? We need deadlines. We are expecting both the UN Secretary General to be understanding and decisive on this issue” he said.

Reminding that the Republic of Cyprus will take over the EU’s term presidency in the second half of 2012, Eroglu said that they aim to complete the negotiations by the end of 2011 because they suspect that the Greek Cypriot stance will change once they take over the term presidency.

Eroglu also said he was pleased with the “support” shown to him by Turkish Cypriot political parties, stating that the Cyprus cause was everyone’s cause.

Responding to a question as to whether the Geneva meeting will be any different from the previous two tripartite meetings, Eroglu said he believed that the Secretary General will be taking steps that will encourage the two sides towards achieving concrete results. “In any case, the Secretary General has made it clear in his report that the Cyprus negotiation process cannot go on forever. We are expecting him to instruct us to hold intensified talks until September and to invite us to New York to conclude the negotiations”, he said.