The Turkish EU Minister and head of the accession negotiations, Egemen Bagis, returns and justifies his statements on the annexation, after reactions from the Turkish Cypriot government. As an option against the intransigence of the Greek Cypriots, which is a given - as he said - he presented his statements on the annexation of the occupied territories to Turkey, in case a solution is not reached in the Cyprus issue.
According to Jenny Duzen, Mr Bagis attended a conference in the European Parliament and was asked about the reactions to his recent statement in the occupied territories.
Referring to an earlier request - in his expression - of the Greek Cypriots for Union with Greece, the Turkish Minister said: "Do not misunderstand me that the Cyprus issue is my personal affair. "The Cyprus issue is a national issue of Turkey." If the Greek Cypriots, he added, put before us the Union with Greece as an option, then we too can think of annexation as an alternative option.