Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides said on Thursday that his message to the Turkish President during their meeting on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit, in Hungary, was clear about the need to resolve the Cyprus issue on the basis of the agreed framework.
According to a press release by the Presidency, in his statements, on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit held in Budapest, Christodoulides said that “within the context of my presence here I had the opportunity to discuss with many foreign leaders and in this context I had the opportunity to exchange views with the Turkish President as well as the Turkish Foreign Minister. My message in both cases was clear: the need to resolve the Cyprus issue on the basis of the agreed framework.”
“I expressed our readiness, the Republic of Cyprus, to be helpful in strengthening EU-Turkish relations, in parallel with concrete, substantive progress for the solution of the Cyprus issue, always on the basis of the agreed framework,” he stressed.
He said he heard the intervention of the Turkish President at the Summit, that he was present during his intervention. “He did not mention the Cyprus issue, he mentioned a number of issues concerning challenges for Turkey and at the same time he also mentioned Turkey’s desire to get closer to the EU, to get closer to European organizations, he mentioned, for example, specifically, the European Defence Organisation. All this – and this was the message I conveyed – goes through the solution of the Cyprus problem, on the basis of the agreed framework and I said specifically that dialogue and discussion should not scare us.”
“I believe that this exchange of views – you understand we did not get into matters of substance – helps in the direction of achieving our goal which is none other than the resumption of substantive negotiations and I repeat – because I mentioned this many times to the Turkish President and the Turkish Foreign Minister – based on the agreed framework,” he stressed.
Anything outside of that framework, he underlined, “of the UN Security Council resolutions, cannot even be discussed. And I said that this is also the clear position of the EU, a position that, I’m sure, will be conveyed by other European leaders to the Turkish President.”
I know, he added, “because we had relevant discussions, that he would meet with the President of the European Commission and the French President, and one of the issues that I asked to be conveyed to the Turkish President is that progress in Euro-Turkish relations is going through and from substantive developments in the Cyprus issue, based on the agreed framework.”
Referring to a bilateral meeting he had with the President of Switzerland, President Christodoulides said that since 1976, Switzerland, with one exception being Austria, has hosted Cyprus talks, adding that the Swiss President once again expressed her readiness to host them again, if and as long as the UN Secretary-General deems it necessary.
