'Greece has no intention for agreement in Cyprus,’ says Turkish Cypriot PM

The Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus said on Tuesday that Greece and Greek Cypriots have no intention of resolving the island’s issue by agreement, Anadolu has reported. Ersan Saner made his comment in response to remarks by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday.

Saner condemned what Mitsotakis said during a news conference with Greek Cypriot administration leader Nicos Anastasiades. In a joint statement following their meeting in Southern Cyprus, they said that reunification of the island should include the end of the “outdated” guarantor system and the withdrawal of Turkey’s troops from Cyprus, deployed there to protect Turkish Cypriots from ethnic violence.

“Their dream is to disconnect Turkey from the Island of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriots, and make us a patch with minority rights on the alleged Republic of Cyprus, which has been turning into a Greek state,” said Saner. “They will then take the island under the hegemony of Greece’s interests.”

READ: ‘Sovereign equality required to resolve Cyprus issue’, says Turkish FM

He claimed that the “Greece-Greek Cypriot duo” is still against building a new partnership. “They say openly that they expect the ‘Republic of Cyprus’ to evolve to become a federal state, and for us to be a patch on that structure.”

Adding that the sovereign equality of the Turkish Cypriots is rejected by Greece and Greek Cyprus, he alleged that, “They intend to exclude us from the decisions to be taken, and deprive us of our right of veto which we had even during the time of Republic of Cyprus, which was founded in 1960. If there is an occupying party on Cyprus, it is the Greeks who dismissed us from the Republic of Cyprus by force of arms, and who claim our mutual state as their own.”