"A sovereign Cyprus is the solution to the Cyprus problem, a solution that will have at its core the withdrawal of the Turkish occupation troops and the end of the intervention rights," said Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias in an interview with ERT1 tonight.
Regarding the negotiation, he characterized as a great success the fact that for the first time this core of the Cyprus problem is recognized and the subject of discussion, which came out of the bottom and forced Turkey to discuss it and the international community to realize that this is the great problem.
Asked about the Greek proposals, Mr. Kotzias referred to the three, as he said, basic characteristics of the withdrawal of the occupying troops from Cyprus, the continuous flow, the deadline and the control of the flow by an international organization such as the OSCE, in order to control immediately the actual number of troops, the armaments registers and the withdrawal flow, on the one hand so that this flow is not broken and on the other hand so that the weapons are not replaced.
The Foreign Minister also stressed the importance of keeping the negotiations open - something that Turkey did not want - and when asked, he said that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is ready to participate in it as long as the conditions are ripe and a window of agreement has been opened.
He also pointed out that the Greek side does not want the negotiations on the Cyprus issue to end in failure and stressed that even in the most difficult moments we must keep open channels with Turkey.
He even stressed that Greece wants to solve problems with its neighbors based on European and international law.