“Statements referring to a two-state solution are extremely unfortunate,” the President of the Republic of Cyprus said, commenting on recent remarks by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who described Cyprus as an obstacle to EU–Turkey relations.
President Nikos Christodoulides made the statements early on Friday morning, in Brussels, following the all-night meeting of the European Council, during which EU leaders discussed enlargement, EU–Turkey relations and developments related to the Cyprus issue.
The President said he had read Mr Fidan’s statements and stressed that references to a two-state approach were particularly regrettable. He added that, during the European Council meeting, there had been extensive discussion on the issue of enlargement, noting that no participant other than the Republic of Cyprus had raised Turkey’s accession process.
Clarifying his own intervention, President Christodoulides said that the Republic of Cyprus would fully support its institutional role as Presidency of the Council, while also clearly expressing the national position that tangible progress in EU–Turkey relations could only occur if Turkey itself demonstrated the will to do so.
Turning to the European Council conclusions, the President described the references relating to Cyprus as particularly significant. He welcomed, for the first time, the explicit mention of the need for close cooperation between the European Council and Mr Hahn, recalling that this had been a key objective from the outset, despite being viewed by some as unrealistic.
“Not only was the appointment made, but there is now a specific reference to the need for cooperation with Mr Hahn, who has already begun contacts with several EU member states,” he said.
He also highlighted the importance, in the current context, of references to the framework for a solution to the Cyprus problem, the role of Turkey, Cyprus-related obligations and the fenced-off area of Varosha, underlining that all these elements would be utilised in the ongoing effort to resume negotiations.
Finally, the President noted that, in both public statements and discussions with members of the European Council, he had raised the possibility of Turkish officials — at presidential, foreign minister and European affairs minister level — participating in informal meetings during the Cyprus Presidency.