Turkey will continue its activities in Eastern Mediterranean unless there is a cooperation between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Sunday.
Çavuşoğlu wrote an article for Turkish Cypriot daily news Kıbrıs Postası and made assessments on the latest developments related to the Cyprus issue, the negotiation process with the Greek Cypriots and Eastern Mediterranean.
Çavuşoğlu said: “Greek Cypriots violently hijacked the Republic of Cyprus in 1963, which was established by the 1960 Treaties and based upon a partnership between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, on the basis of political equality.”
The negotiation processes carried out under the auspices of the United Nations since 1968 have failed Because of the intransigent attitude of the Greek Cypriot side, he said, adding, the latest negotiation process, the Conference on Cyprus, closed without an outcome in Crans Montana in July 2017.
“The main reason for the failure of these negotiations is that the Greek Cypriot side refuses to share power with the Turkish Cypriots,” the top Turkish diplomat said.
However, there has been no change in the attitude of the Greek Cypriot side since the closure of the Conference on Cyprus, he added.
“We have been emphasizing that in order to restart negotiations it should be determined in advance what will be negotiated, in which direction and within the framework of which modalities. We do not consider it beneficial to engage in a new open-ended exercise with no clear vision or purpose, and to start negotiations for the sake of negotiating,” he said.