Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (13.05.14) reports that the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reacted before the announcement of the ECHR verdict which ruled for Turkey to pay 90 million euro in compensation to Cyprus for the Turkish military 1974 invasion. Davutoglu said the ruling would “neither be binding nor carry any value” for Ankara.
“The case has been brought to the agenda within a decade and in international law, it’s actually not binding and it does not have any value with respect to our views. It has many legal disadvantages and the timing is very problematic, ”Davutoglu told reporters on May 12.
“If there is such a sanction, this is of course a probability; we’ll be giving an official view,” the Turkish Foreign Minister said, adding that the timing of the judgment was inappropriate because the reunification talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots were “actually getting to a certain pace, after so many efforts.”
“Such a decision will affect the psychological atmosphere of the comprehensive negotiations on the island. It’s not correct if there is such a sanction; this is going to affect the peace negotiations on Cyprus. It’s going to negatively affect the psychological atmosphere,” he said.
In addition, Hurriyet (13.05.14-online edition) broadcast that speaking during a press conference today Davutoglu said: “We are not thinking of paying this amount to a country that we do not recognize.
Davutoglu described the timing of the ruling as “not well intentioned.” “The ECHR should rule on all the missing people cases, including the Turks in Turkish Cyprus,” he said. “The timing is unfortunate, the comprehensive peace talks have been dealt a huge blow,” Davutoglu added, referring to the recently restarted negotiations between the two sides of the divided island.
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli also slammed the ECHR ruling. “In the name of the nation, I call on the prime minister to reject the ECHR ruling and send it back, and declare to all sides that we will closely follow this issue,” Bahceli told today during his party’s parliamentary group meeting.
Moreover, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (13.05.14) reports that the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement yesterday describing the decision of the ECHR as “lacking legal ground”. Replying to a question, the spokesman of the Ministry argued that the decision includes “mistakes and inconsistencies” and “lacks legal ground”. According to the spokesman, it seems that the decision could not be implemented in conditions of continuation of the Cyprus problem. He alleged that the application filed in 2010 by the Greek Cypriot side, as he described the Republic of Cyprus, is “far from exhibiting good will”. He described as “worthy to be noticed” the fact that the decision on the application was taken in a period during which the efforts for producing a result in the negations are intensified.