President Nikos Christodoulides has challenged Turkey to sit down with the Republic of Cyprus to negotiate maritime boundaries, following Ankara’s criticism of the Cyprus-Lebanon EEZ agreement signed on Wednesday.
Speaking to media on Thursday on the sidelines of a public consultation day with the Cypriot Children’s Parliament at the Presidential Palace, Christodoulides was asked to comment on reactions from Ankara and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman regarding the maritime delimitation deal with Lebanon.
The president stressed that the Republic of Cyprus is a member of the United Nations, an EU member state, and on the basis of international law, good neighbourly relations and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, proceeds with relevant agreements with neighbouring states.
“My response to what comes from Ankara is to publicly state the readiness of the Republic of Cyprus to sit at the same table with Turkey to negotiate our maritime borders with Turkey on the basis of the relevant 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he said.
He continued by saying that if the Turkish side has such certainty about its positions and feels such confidence in its approaches, “let us sit together at the same table, let us discuss, let us determine our maritime borders, as we did with neighbouring states and as we will continue to do”.
Asked about messages sent by Erhurman ahead of the new effort starting on the Cyprus problem and whether these messages are considered auspicious, the president replied that he would not comment on Erhurman’s approach and that it does not affect the Republic of Cyprus’s plans.
He repeated what he said he told the Turkish Cypriot leader when he met him for the first time, namely the Greek Cypriot side’s readiness “even tomorrow to restart talks from where they broke off at Crans-Montana, to lead to a viable and functional solution to the Cyprus problem”.
“And indeed I told Mr Erhurman myself that, even during the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, I am ready, fully ready, I will not invoke and I am not looking for any excuse not to sit together, so that I repeat by restarting the talks, utilising the acquis of negotiations, we lead to the resolution of the Cyprus problem, on the basis of the agreed framework,” he stressed.
He continued by saying that his message to Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leader is that if there is political will, which exists on our side, “we are ready, we are fully ready, yes we can in a short time lead to a solution to the Cyprus problem, on the basis of the agreed framework”.
The president was also asked about the visit on Friday to Germany by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and whether Berlin will convey a message within the framework of the initiative he discussed with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Christodoulides repeated that during his time in Berlin, he discussed with the German chancellor amongst many other issues EU-Turkish relations.
He added that he expressed some very specific suggestions, ideas and views “and taking into account Germany’s very good relations with Turkey—let me remind you that the German chancellor was recently in Ankara—we asked him to help in this direction”.
“I am pleased with the positive response there was, he himself said so publicly. Beyond that, we await Mr Fidan’s visit, and I am sure that if anything arises, we will receive relevant information,” he noted.
(information from CNA)
Read more: