Tsielepis: Turkey will submit its position for a two state solution to measure the reaction
The Greek Cypriot side mustn’t go to the five-party table with the impression that Turkey will insist on a two states solution, that the talks will fail and that responsibilities will subsequently be assigned on the Turkish side, without being ready to submit its own positions, the Head of the Cyprus Problem Office of the C.C. of AKEL Toumazos Tsielepis pointed out speaking to the morning program of Astra radio station.
We would be committing a big mistake if we are not ready, T.Tsielepis underlined.
He explained that Turkey will submit its proposal perhaps to measure the reaction to it, but it will probably not insist on a two state solution, and so the Greek Cypriot side must be ready to submit its own positions.
Things, T. Tsielepis noted, are now very difficult and are a consequence of the collapse at Crans Montana, however the question is what we should do next. He recalled that AKEL submitted to the President of the Republic its own proposal on what we should do surrounding the Cyprus problem to avoid the final partition of our island, however, he said, so far AKEL hasn’t received any answer whatsoever, neither positive nor negative.
AKEL, he said, proposed what the Greek Cypriot side must do to resume the dialogue, which did not start because we weren’t convincing.
T.Tsielepis referred indicatively to the handlings made by the British during the recent approval of the resolution for the renewal of the mandate of the UN Peace keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), where they tried to leave in the text question marks with regards the basis of the negotiations for the solution of the Cyprus problem. Furthermore, he noted that the first paragraph of the operative part of the previous resolution had been removed, which stated that the talks must continue from the point where they had remained at Crans Montana with the 2014 Joint Declaration, the convergences that have been recorded so far and the Framework submitted by the UN Secretary General.
We should be worried, he stressed, that we have a basis for negotiations, but now various strange things are starting, such as all the talk about ‘sovereign equality’ that the British are flirting with, perhaps believing that they will solve the Cyprus problem by finding a middle ground between a one state and a two state solution, something which T.Tsielepis stressed will end in a big fiasco.
Toumazos Tsielepis also said that the Secretary General of the UN in his recent statement clarified that the basis for a solution is there, as well as his mandate unless the two sides agree on something different. This, he assessed, represents a warning issued by Mr. Guterres about what solution the parties want. If the Greek Cypriot side insists on the solution of bizonal, bicommunal federation, there is no way the Secretary General can come and change this basis.