Ankara: Greek Cypriot Side Does Not Have Any Political Will And Desire To Find A Solution To The Cyprus Issue

ANKARA - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has said, ''the Greek Cypriot side has been acting with a contentment of becoming a member of the European Union (EU) on May 1, 2004. Therefore, it does not have any political will and desire to find a solution to the Cyprus issue.''
Speaking at a weekly press conference, MFA Spokesman Namik Tan said on Wednesday, ''three weeks have elapsed since the beginning of the negotiation process aiming to find a fair and lasting solution to the Cyprus issue. Now, there are three weeks ahead of the sides. It is revealed that the Greek Cypriot side does not have any political will and desire to find a solution to the Cyprus issue.''
Noting that the Greek Cypriot side had been acting with a contentment of becoming a member of the EU on May 1, 2004, Tan told reporters, ''all limited and reasonable proposals of the Turkish Cypriot side were rejected without holding any discussions. On the other hand, the Greek Cypriot side put forward some proposals aiming to change the whole plan of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. Their proposals do not take into consideration the basic principles and parameters of the Annan Plan.''
Recalling that the sides would recess the negotiations on Thursday for a day, Tan said, ''the United Nations will assess the give-and-take process.''
Upon a question about news stories claiming that Greece would propose to postpone the quadrilateral conference, which is scheduled to be held between March 22 and 29, 2004, for a week, Tan said that he did not have any information about the allegations.
Replying to another question about possible contributions of the United States or the EU to the negotiation process in Cyprus, Tan said, ''our most important expectation from the EU is to make the agreement to be reached at the end of the negotiation process a part of its basic law. During Turkey-the EU Troika meeting in Ankara, we conveyed our rightful views and concerns about the issue. The members of the EU Troika told us that technical and judicial studies had been continuing. We proposed that Turkish and EU jurists should meet and discuss the issue in detail. The jurists will meet in the coming days. However, the date of their meeting has not been set yet.''
(UK-AÖ) 10.03.2004