Nicosia: GREEK Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades said he believes UN-backed talks on reunifying Cyprus will remain stalled until after Turkey’s April 16 referendum on presidential powers, in an interview published yesterday.
Anastasiades, who heads the island’s internationally recognised government, has held 21 months of negotiations with his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Mustafa Akinci
But Akinci this week suspended his participation in the talks in protest at Cyprus parliament’s approval of a law that will see Greek Cypriot schools mark anniversary of a 1950 referendum in support of union with Greece.
“I hope there are second thoughts from the Turkish Cypriot side and from Turkey, but I don’t expect this to happen before April’s referendum” on expanding the powers of the presidency in Turkey, Anastasiades told the English-language Cyprus Weekly.
“I believe the goal of the Turkish side, especially of President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan, to achieve a positive result in the referendum becomes a substantial obstacle in the negotiations when it comes to the withdrawal of occupation troops,” he said.
