Turkey looks to new leadership for Cyprus breakthrough

BY STANISLAVA GAYDAZHIEVA | APRIL 10, 2013 – 5:04PM

Turkey’s Minister for EU Affairs, Egemen Bağış, believes that a breakthrough between Greek and Turkish Cypriots can become a reality under the mandate of the newly elected president, Nicos Anastasiades.

“For the first time, we have an elected president on the south of the island who campaigned for a “yes” vote during the Annan plan”, pointed out Bağış at an event organised by the European Policy Centre on Turkey’s struggle with terrorism.

He welcomed Anastasiades’ election and said that it “might give a new window of opportunity to see a solution, a breakthrough, between the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots.”

Bağış further said that the Cyprus dispute was not a prerequisite for membership of Cyprus to the European Union (EU) and should, therefore, “not become a prerequisite for membership of Turkey.”

The Turkish minister of EU affairs also stated that Turkey would support and approve any solution the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots agreed on, as long as the solution was based on “political equality” in the island. He said that the authorities in Ankara were willing to open Turkey’s airports, sea ports and airspace to Greek Cypriots, if the Council decision from 2004, calling for direct trade with Northern Cyprus, was implemented.

Bağış said that if Cyprus had accepted the Annan plan, the United States of Cyprus would probably be one of the largest economically growing countries and the most prosperous EU nation at the moment. In his view, the lack of progress on finding a solution to the dispute and current economic situation in Greece were the main reasons that no investments were made in the south of the island and only some investments in the northern part.

Turkey’s chief negotiator expressed hope that Anastasiades will “reach out to his Turkish Cypriot neighbours and pave the way for a solution.”

via Turkey looks to new leadership for Cyprus breakthrough | New Europe.