Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and US Secretary of State John Kerry have both backed hopes that a settlement to the Cyprus problem could be reached by the end of the year.
Cavusoglu met with Kerry in Washington with both officials upbeat about the chances of a deal being struck between Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.
“We have also some good news from the eastern part of the Mediterranean, I mean Cyprus,” Cavusoglu was quoted as saying after their meeting. “We are hoping to reach a settlement in Cyprus in 2016. Turkey’s side is ready.”
Cavusoglu said that the momentum had slowed down of late ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections before adding “after the elections we are hoping to reach a settlement and the United States is giving its full support to this process as well as Turkey.”
Kerry, who has visited Cyprus recently along with US Vice President Joe Biden, said he “couldn’t agree more” who claimed that “we are very deeply committed to and involved in the talks on Cyprus.”
“We have met with the folks on both sides as well as individual countries and we are going keep pushing very, very hard towards a resolution of the Cyprus crisis.”