FM Cavucoglu suggested to Venizelos both to visit Cyprus and visit President Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Eroglu.

Nicosia.- Acting President and House President Yiannakis Omirou on Saturday rejected a proposal submitted by Turkish Foreign Ministers Mevlut Cavusoglu that he and his Greek counterpart Evangelos Venizelos visit Cyprus together and hold separate meetings with President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.

Press reports suggested that Cavusoglu proposed he and Venizelos visit Anastasiades after he returns to Cyprus from New York where he underwent heart surgery, but also cross to the north to meet Eroglu.

Commenting on press reports, Omirou rejected the proposal noting that this aimed to portray an image of separate entities in Cyprus as well as to give the impression that the Cyprus problem was a dispute between Greece and Turkey.

“Therefore Cavusolgu`s proposal is categorically rejected as the intended visit to the north and the south, as they say, to aims to present the existence of two entities, that is, to equate of the Republic of Cyprus with the illegal regime in the occupied areas,” he said.

“This proposal is not new, it has been tabled by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that he and his Greek counterpart Antonis Samaras should visit both north and south and this is rejected in the strongest manner,” he concluded.

CONFUSION OVER TURKISH PROPOSAL

Turkish Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has proposed that he and his Greek counterpart Evangelos Venizelos visit President Nicos Anastasiades when he returns to Cyprus as a step towards defusing the tensions of Turkey’s violation of the island’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

According to the Cyprus News Agency, Venizelos thought it was a “good idea”. The two men met on Friday in Thessaloniki on the sidelines of the meeting of foreign ministers of member countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, BSEC.

CNA said Venizelos and Cavusoglu had discussed the Turkish seismic vessel Barbaros’ survey within Cyprus’ EEZ and the Greek minister had told his Turkish counterpart that it was “a violation of the sovereign rights of the Republic.”

They also reportedly discussed what needed to be done to bring the two sides in Cyprus back to the negotiating table. The Greek Cypriot side withdrew from the talks in October when Turkey issued its NAVTEX for exploration.

No details were given as how the Turkish Foreign Minister’s visit could or would happen. Ankara does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus in which case the meeting would have to take place in the UN-controlled buffer zone.

Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said Cavusoglu was welcome to visit the Republic of Cyprus, through the legal entry points, and meet with Anastasiades at the presidential palace.

CNA reported later that on Friday afternoon, Cavusoglu called Anastasiades in New York where he underwent heart surgery, to wish him well.

The two men did not discuss anything else, the report said.

Citing Foreign ministry sources in Ankara, CNA said the proposal was along the lines of an older suggestion by Prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu for the premiers of Greece and Turkey to visit the island’s communities – “first the south and then the north.”

No dates were discussed, the sources said.

In fresh comments, Christodoulides rejected any suggestion of a four-partite meeting.

“We do not participate in such meetings and anyway Greece is not willing to take part in such a meeting either,” the spokesman said. “We reject this proposal.”

The UN Secretary General`s Special Advisor for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide will be visiting Cyprus next week, on 16-17 December, CNA has learned.

Eide is expected to meet with the negotiators of the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot sides.

His last meeting with the President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades, who is currently recovering from a heart operation at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC, was held on November 25.