Turkey seeks free movement of people, goods in Turkish Cyprus in post-agreement era

Turkey will seek the right of free movement for Turkish people and Turkish goods in Turkish Cyprus after a prospective reunification deal that would result in the entire island joining the European Union amid ongoing talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriots in Geneva. 

"The EU should not stay outside of these talks. They cheated the Turkish Cypriots in 2004. We told them not to do it this time. If there is going to be a solution, if Turkish and Greek Cypriots will jointly be members of the EU, then the EU should take four-party freedoms into consideration," PM Binali Yıldırım told Turkish envoys on Jan. 10. 

Yıldırım said Turkey would also seek the right to the free movement of its people and its goods in Turkish Cyprus in order to continue Turkey's access to the united island. "This would also stand as an example of our accession to the EU," he said. 

There is progress in ongoing talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriots but what concerns Turkey is providing a guarantee for a just and equal governance system, he said. 

"Mutual trust between two parties is not sufficient. Everything must be taken under guarantee in the light of the painful experiences of the past." 

The Greek Cypriot side has been a member of the EU since 2004, while the Turkish Cypriot administration was not granted the same rights. The EU vows to take all of the island once a deal is reached. 

Turkey wants the continuation of its guarantor rights and to maintain the presence of a certain number of troops on the island while Greece and Greek Cypriots reject it. 

"The guarantor for the Turkish Cypriot side is Turkey and for the Greek Cypriots, it is Greece," he said, repeating Ankara's wishes for a just and lasting solution for a bi...