Turkey–United Kingdom relations

He said that if a conflict broke out between Greece and Turkey it would a total war

By George Gilson

The President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades is to hold talks with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in New York today to discuss a restart of substantial Cyprus talks and ways to transcend the huge divide between the Turkish Cypriot and Turkey on the one hand and the Republic of Cyprus and Greece on the other.

Official negotiations on the Cyprus issue can start only after the recognition of the sovereign equality of the Turkish side, the Turkish Cypriot president said on June 26.

Ersin Tatar said he reiterated the necessity of acceptance of equal international status during a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“Turkey has been illegally occupying Cyprus for nearly 50 years violating the Treaty of Guarantee which established and guaranteed Cyprus’ independence”

At 6 a.m. on July 20, 1974, Turkish troops stormed into the Republic of Cyprus in accordance with Article III of the Treaty of Guarantee of the first constitution of 1960. This mandated each of the guaranteeing parties - Greece, Turkey and Great Britain - "to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the state of affairs" if that were ever threatened.

In their first meeting since February, Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said they had a constructive exchange of views and would continue to work with a United Nations envoy.

Ankara cannot accept a solution on Cyprus issue that ignores Turkish Cypriots and their will, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on May 4.

President Nicos Anastasiades has replied to three questions posed by the United Nations regarding security and guarantees on Wednesday by addressing the Conference from a 16-page document at Crans-Montana, Switzerland on Thursday morning.

Psychological disorders or phobias may constitute the most fundamental aspect of the Cyprus problem. They are probably the reason why reaching a settlement has become such a horrendous job that has defied almost half a century of efforts.

The four-page document that Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades gave to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during a meeting at Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum underlined once again how delusional it might be to expect a quick Cyprus fix.