Foreign Ministry spokesman Gregory Delavekouras made the following statement in reply to an ANA report today from Ankara regarding a proposal from Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu to Greek Foreign Minister Droutsas for a joint visit to occupied Cyprus:
“Such a proposal has never been expressed in any way by the Turkish side to Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas, so there cannot have been a response – affirmative or negative – as alleged in the article.
In any case, an obvious prerequisite for any such visit would be the withdrawal of Turkish occupation forces, the presence of which is, as the international community knows, the essence of the Cyprus problem. Only if the Turkish occupation forces leave will a solution to the problem be feasible, to the benefit of all Cypriots. We are struggling towards this goal, and we once again call on the Turkish leadership to contribute to this effort constructively and to the best of its abilities.”
May 20, 2011