Foreign Ministry spokesperson Stratos Efthymiou's response to a statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson regarding the developments in the Cyprus issue

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Stratos Efthymiou stated the following in response to a journalist's question on a statement made today by Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hüseyin Müftüoğlu regarding the developments in Cyprus:

“Greece has long and systematically supported the finding of a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem based on the resolutions of the United Nations. This is why, in a timely manner – starting a year and a half ago – it underscored to all sides, including the United Nations, the importance of thorough and timely negotiation of the issues of guarantees and security, so that the process for resolving the Cyprus problem would not end in failure.

Now, however, once again, Ankara – for reasons of serving its geopolitical interests – and Mr. Akıncı are leading the UN-backed negotiation process to an impasse, invoking reasons pertaining to methodology and trying to terminate the negotiations because they are unwilling to discuss the core of the Cyprus problem, which is the issues of guarantees and security.

But these issues are inextricably linked to the nature of the Cyprus problem, which is by definition an issue of the illegal invasion and occupation of part of Cyprus by the Turkish army.

We ask ourselves: What does Turkey believe? That the fact that it is illegally occupying part of Cyprus should not be the subject and essence of the external aspect of the Cyprus problem?

Everything else Turkey is saying is mere pretext”.