Cypriot President, Nicos Anastasiades, and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, exchanged views on the Cyprus issue during a NATO working dinner in Madrid on Wednesday night.
The two participated in the Euro-Atlantic working dinner hosted by the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, in which the Russia-Ukraine conflict was discussed.
Pleasure to attend Euro-Atlantic working dinner in Madrid hosted by dear PM of 🇪🇸 @sanchezcastejon. Stressed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has set off seismic consequences, going beyond conventional security: food crisis, energy security, refugee situation, hybrid warfare. pic.twitter.com/Uf9fey7Zmq
— Nicos Anastasiades (@AnastasiadesCY) June 29, 2022
According to Ekathimerini, Anastasiades expressed to Erdogan his readiness to resume the negotiations for the settlement of the Cyprus issue under the auspices of the United Nations, and reiterated that he is always ready to enter into talks aimed at resolving the “chronic problem.”
Anastasiades said the resolution will be beneficial for Cyprus and all Cypriots.
In his address during the working dinner, Anastasiades referred to the Cyprus problem as an “open wound,” stressing that as long as it lasts, it will continue to be a threat to peace, security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and Europe in general.
‘Greece must be held accountable’:
The following day at the conclusion of the NATO Summit, Erdogan spoke to reporters and said Greece had violated Turkish airspace 147 times and that the nation “must be held accountable,” whilst reiterating he had severed all ties with his Greek counterpart.
Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed the need for open lines of communication between Athens and Ankara.
“We need to meet, we need to talk and we need to deal with the situation in a civilised manner, in the framework of international law,” Mitsotakis said.
Mitsotakis also commented that at no time during all the different discussions that have taken place during the ongoing summit “did Turkey raise any issue whatsoever that concerned the presentation of its own arguments against Greece.”
This, he said, “indicates something about how well these arguments can stand up in an international setting like that of NATO, or whether they are ultimately directed at a domestic audience.”
In Greece, SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said the outcome of the summit was “a terrible diplomatic defeat.”
Tsipras told Open TV he believes the three-day summit represents “the confirmation of the West’s support of Turkey despite the fact it expresses an extreme revisionist policy.”
In a tweet, Tsipras said: “Mr. Mitsotakis leads the country from Waterloo to Waterloo.”
“Every time there is a fiasco, it takes the announcement of the purchase of new armaments programs up its sleeve. If he stays in power for a long time, I do not know how many billions we will reach to cover his defeats,” Tsipras added.
Ο κ. Μητσοτάκης οδηγεί τη χώρα από Βατερλό σε Βατερλό. Και κάθε φορά που υφίσταται ένα φιάσκο, βγάζει από το μανίκι την εξαγγελία αγοράς νέων εξοπλιστικών προγραμμάτων. Αν παραμείνει για πολύ στη διακυβέρνηση, δεν ξέρω στα πόσα δισ. θα φτάσουμε για να καλύψουμε τις ήττες του.
— Αλέξης Τσίπρας – Alexis Tsipras (@atsipras) June 30, 2022
This comes as earlier today Mitsotakis told reporters Greece had made formal requests to purchase F-35 fighter jets from the US with expected delivery between 2027 and 2028.
