Turkey lashes out at Greece for wanting troops to leave Cyprus

Turkey on Saturday once again hit back at Greece’s expectations of removing Turkish troops from the illegally occupied areas in the Republic of Cyprus.

In a written statement the Turkish Foreign Ministry rejected statements by its Greek counterparts, saying, "laying down 'sine qua non' conditions raise doubts on Greece's sincerity and expectations" over the Cyprus Problem.

The remarks were in response to Greek Foreign Ministry statement published on August 11 that wrote: "The elimination of the anachronistic system of guarantees and the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus are sine qua non conditions for a just and viable resolution of the Cyprus issue."

Greece added: "Once again, Ankara appears not to want to respond to the question of whether or not there are putschists among the occupation forces."

Responding to Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias’ repeated calls for the removal of soldiers from the occupied areas as one of the "fundamental conditions for the resolution of the Cyprus issue", the Turkish Foreign Ministry on August 11 urged a more "constructive realistic" approach from Athens.

The sentiments expressed on Saturday continued to push Greece to change its course on the issue.

"Our expectation from Greece is to put an end to their statements that serves no purpose and their efforts on intervening the judicial process over the coup attempt that was blocked by our nation," the statement said.

UN-led talks between the leaders of the two communities, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci resumed in May 2015 aiming to reunify the island under a federal roof.

Source: Anadolu Agency

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