Siber: Varosha could be opened in return for something else
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris Postasi newspaper (21.02.14) reported that the self-style speaker of the “assembly”, Sibel Siber who addressed the general assembly of the 9th Parliamentary Union Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Tehran, evaluated her contacts in Iran and made statements regarding Varosha.
She said that the conference was very fruitful as she had found the opportunity to meet with many member countries parliamentary speakers and OIC officials. She claimed that she was regarded as the “TRNC Parliamentary speaker” and “the representative of a state” and added that the country delegations and representatives showed great interest in the “TRNC parliamentary delegation”.
Stressing that lobbying efforts carried out by Turkey in favour of the breakaway regime are important, Siber said that her contacts had been fruitful thanks to the efforts of the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Cemil Çiçek. Speaking about the importance of recognition Siber said:“Negotiations has started and in the case of an agreement there will be a federation. We support the solution but in the meantime we do exist”. Siber said that their demand is not “recognition of TRNC” but to work for lifting the embargoes and ending the isolation.
Answering to a question about TRNC’s redlines Siber said: “We will not give up on Turkey’s guarantor-ship, bi-zonality, and autonomy regarding internal affairs” Also asked about Varosha she said the following: “There are two discussions around Varosha. One statement is ‘Varosha is a part of comprehensive solution and the other one is Varosha can be opened in return for something else. If Varosha will be opened, that will bring benefits to both sides, it can be opened under Turkish control as a confidence building measure. But these topics require further negotiations”, said Siber.