Cypriot president: Turkey eyes island’s control with 2-state deal

Turkey’s new push for separate Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot states on ethnically divided Cyprus shows a desire to control the whole of the east Mediterranean island nation, the Cypriot president charged Friday, according to Associated Press.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly, President Nicos Anastasiades blasted the absurdity of Turkish and Turkish Cypriot arguments that efforts to reunify Cyprus as a federation — in line with UN decisions — have been exhausted.

“The narrative … (that) all efforts to reaching a compromise have failed and we should seek solutions outside the UN framework reinforces the valid arguments that Turkey’s end game is not to solve (the island’s partition), but to turn Cyprus into its protectorate,” Anastasiades said.

“It is not my intention to engage in a blame game, but I cannot leave unnoticed the absurdity of the Turkish rhetoric,” Anastasiades said.

 Anastasiades said he remains committed to resuming peace talks that have remained deadlocked since 2017 when the last major push at a deal that brought together the foreign ministers of Cyprus’ ‘guarantors’ — Greece, Turkey and Britain — collapsed.

Source: US News