Regarding the resolution approved by the European Parliament on 13 November 2014
The TRNC Ministry of Foreign Affairs has thoroughly examined the resolution approved yesterday (13 November 2014) by the European Parliament. The adoption of a resolution on matters relevant to the Cyprus issue on a platform where the Turkish Cypriot side has no representation whatsoever is unacceptable and non-binding. Since the accession of the Greek Cypriot side to the European Union in 2004, the European Parliament has been making calls to Republic of Turkey to recognize the Greek Cypriot administration’s “sovereign rights”. To date, these unrealistic calls have not had a positive impact on the negotiations and on the contrary, served to increase tension and mistrust between the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots.
Our Ministry made several representations on multiple levels in order to correct the biased statements and factual errors in the earlier versions of the draft resolution. As a result of these efforts, a call for sharing of the benefits from the islands natural resources by the two sides and support for the ongoing efforts of the Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Espen Barth Eide, to restart the UN-led negotiations were included in the final document. Furthermore, the statement of Mr. Johannes Hahn, the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations during his opening and closing speeches for the debate on the said resolution, where he stressed that “the need for a comprehensive settlement on Cyprus has never been more pressing”, is also noteworthy.
The Turkish Cypriot side remains committed to achieve further progress on the remaining core issues through a structured and results-oriented process, as defined in the Joint Declaration of the Leaders on 11 February 2014 and calls upon the Greek Cypriot Leader Mr. Anastasiades to cease blame-games and return to the negotiation table so that a lasting and comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem can be found at once.