The Conference on Cyprus ended early on Friday in Crans Montana, Switzerland, without a solution. Turkey’s intransigent stance on the Turkish troops’ stay on the island and its rigid insistence on maintaining the intervention rights and guarantees for at least 15 years until their re-examination was one of the main reasons that led the negotiations to a dead end.
During the day, it was apparent that a meeting of the Prime Ministers of Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom could take place in New York next week provided that Turkey gave a commitment to accept the abolishment of its intervention rights and guarantees.
However, there was no agreement on the withdrawal of the occupational troops, the territorial readjustments, but also on Turkey’s claim that Turkish citizens should have equal treatment in Cyprus with Greek nationals who are EU citizens.
Earlier in the day, Kotzias posted on Twitter that “Turkey’s intervention rights on the island could not be made acceptable. The dream and the plan for a solution to the Cyprus issue are still open.”
In a press briefing, he expressed Greece’s willingness to work for a fair and sustainable solution so that Cyprus becomes a normal state without guarantees and guardians. He expressed his satisfaction with the excellent cooperation with the Cyprus’ leadership as well as his appreciation to the efforts of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
On his part, Cyprus government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said “unfortunately, this effort did not bear fruit due to the persistence of the Turkish side to keep the guarantees and the interventionist rights of Turkey as well as the occupation troops on the island.”
