Anastasiades pessimistic about Turkish contribution to Cyprus solution

The President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades seriously doubts his Turkish counterpart has any intention to contribute constructively towards a solution for Cyprus citing Erdogan’s previous stance saying there was "only rhetoric, which has unfortunately not proven in practice that Turkey's desire is a solution."

"If this is a solution made to Turkish specifications, this cannot be a solution for the Greek Cypriots," said President Anastasiades.

Anastasiades, who made the comments to Greek media, also referred to the map offered by Turkey saying it was not satisfactory, because "it does not include critical areas that will enable a greater number of Greek Cypriots to once again come under Greek Cypriot administration."

‘’The Turkish guarantees and continued presence of Turkish armed forces, after the solution of the Cyprus problem, create a sort of dependency of the state under guarantee, on the one hand, and a clear threat against the Greek Cypriot state, on the other hand.

‘’Giving the four basic EU freedoms to Turkish nationals would put the existence of Cypriot Greeks in jeopardy,’’ added Anastasiades

When pressed about a possible referendum on Cyprus ahead in lieu of the presidential elections next year Anastasiades said he cannot place time limits adding what matters is that a solution is reached that solution meets ‘the expectations of the Greek Cypriot community, without neglecting those of the Turkish Cypriot [community]."