Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides recalled on Friday Russia`s traditional supportive stance on Cyprus, when invited to comment on a press release issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry suggesting that Ankara “interferes grossly” in the UN-led peace talks to serve its own interests.
Asked about a press report in “Phileleftheros” daily according to which the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its press release that Ankara is interfering in the Cyprus inciting Turkish Cypriots to adopt a hard and uncompromising stance at the talks, Kasoulides said that “we are well aware of the traditional stance of Russia, which supports Cyprus at the Security Council.”
“Allow me not to intervene in this discussion,” he noted.
Asked if this press release may be an indirect confirmation that Turkish President Tayip Erdogan is moving along these uncompromising positions, the Foreign Minister said that he did not wish to take a firm stance on the matter. “Negotiations on the Cyprus problem are currently underway. We shall see,” he noted.
UN-led negotiations aiming to solve the problem of Cyprus, divided since the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974, resumed last May, with a view to reunite the island under a federal roof.