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If Cyprus’ veto on opening EU-Turkey chapters jeopardises a deal between Ankara and Brussels to stem the migrant flow, which is due to be finalised next Thursday, it would not be Nicosia’s problem, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Friday.

Speaking after his regular meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, Anastasiades was asked to comment on what Turkey needed to do to have the freeze on certain chapters lifted. He said Ankara would have “to respond to its obligations deriving from the Negotiating Framework.”

Pressed as to the implications for the EU’s migrant deal if Ankara did not comply, Anastasiades added: “This is not our problem, because we have never been asked. Those who have put forward this issue should undertake the task of obliging Turkey to respond to its obligations on the basis of the Ankara protocol or on the basis of the Negotiating Framework,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the president used even stronger language in an interview published by the Financial Times (FT).
He said he would ‘”never accept” being forced to consent to the opening of the frozen chapters.

The newspaper said Europe’s plan to stem the refugee crisis negotiated by Germany’s Angela Merkel could be scuppered by Cyprus if Anastasiades fails to agree to the opening of chapters, which Turkey has laid down as one of its demands for a deal to be discussed again next week in Brussels, following on from last Monday’s summit.

Anastasiades told the FT he has come under intense pressure from other EU countries to remove Cyprus’s longstanding “freeze” on five policy areas.

“I will never accept being forced, and I will never give my consent, because otherwise I have no other choice but to not return back home,” Anastasiades said.

Anastasiades said he could not lift the freeze unless Ankara lived up to its commitments to normalise relations with Cyprus as an EU member state. This would involve Turkey implementing the Ankara protocol that would include opening up Turkish ports and airports to Republic of Cyprus air and sea traffic.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted by the FT as saying:  “This [deal] has caused a fight within the EU… they were really forced to turn on the Greek Cypriots in a serious way.”

Anastasiades said that if he would concede to Turkish demands now, without receiving previously-agreed concessions from Ankara, Greek Cypriots would abandon their support for the reunification talks, “ending years of sensitive work”.

“Unfortunately, I could say they are putting in danger the whole procedure. They are sacrificing the unique opportunity to find a solution to the Cyprus question by putting us in such a difficult position,” he said. “It’s a very delicate moment, and at this very crucial moment, they are pushing us into a position to say ‘no’ to Turkey.”

According to officials who participated in the talks, the FT said, Anastasiades was informed about the Turkish demands by Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister who accompanied Merkel in her talks with Davutoglu — not Donald Tusk, the European Council president who had been leading EU negotiations with Turkey for weeks but had been cut out of Merkel’s negotiations, the paper said.

The FT said that like most EU delegations, Cypriot diplomats were blindsided by Merkel’s deal with Davutoglu at Monday’s summit. “In particular, they said the issue of opening new chapters was not raised in meetings in the days leading up to the summit — including a session with all 28 EU ambassadors less than 24 hours before it began,” the paper said.

According to the FT, diplomats said the two sides may be able to find a compromise short of Turkey formally recognising the Greek Cypriot led Cyprus government if Ankara were willing to allow Cypriot-flagged ships to dock in Turkish ports.

Anastasiades also indicated in the interview that Cypriot officials feared Ankara may have begun  withdrawing support from Akinci’s diplomatic outreach, and added that he would ask EU leaders to put pressure on Turkey to back Turkish Cypriot initiatives.

“Mr Akinci has exhausted his limits,” Anastasiades said.  “That’s why I’m asking the Turkish government not just to encourage but also to support Mr Akinci, because he’s facing problems.”

On his meeting on Friday with Akinci, Anastasiades said it had been positive and constructive.

“I think it was a very productive and creative meeting. We have decided that the understandings [we have reached] should be gradually transformed into convergences and we will certainly continue the talks in the same intensive way in order to achieve what will meet the expectations of both communities,” the president said.

Asked which chapters were discussed, he added: “We have covered a host of issues relating to the topics under discussion, excluding none, “except of course, the territorial adjustments and the guarantees.”
Akinci had raised the issue of leaks from the Greek Cypriot side relating to the ongoing negotiations.

Anastasiades, on his return to the presidential palace after the talks, said he had told Akinci it was a matter for the Greek Cypriot side to deal with.

Pressed to comment further, he said it was a matter he did not wish to further address at the moment.  On Thursday night in an interview with CyBC Anastasiades said he was weighing up his options when it came to National Council meetings and suggested he might even switch to briefing the party leaders one-on one instead.

He also said, in response to a question that Tusk might visit the island but did not elaborate.

Courtesy of Jean Christou