‘Expanding bounds of diplomacy’ to solve Cyprus problem

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sunday his country is “trying to solve the Cyprus problem by expanding the bounds of diplomacy.”

Fidan was speaking to Turkish television channel A Haber and explained that Cyprus is one of the main issues impacting relations between Turkey and Greece.

Speaking about other factors impacting relations between the two countries, he said “we have problems we inherited from history in the Aegean. They do not belong to this generation.”

“As responsible individuals in this generation, a methodology has been put forward on how to manage these problems. As mature states, these problems can be put into parentheses, and we can find ways we can improve them,” he said.

He added, “with the common vision and support provided by both leaders [Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis], we at the foreign ministry will continue to try to advance this common agenda.”

“The longstanding issues between us, especially the status of the Aegean islands, issues related to armament, airspace definitions, and so on, are things we are looking to discuss and see how we can solve from a new perspective. My colleague [Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis] and I talk about this a lot.”

Moving on to the matter of Turkey’s European Union accession process, he the matter is a “longstanding issue”, but that “lessons have been learned by looking at the past and the present thereof.”

“What can this new approach bring? What are our new parameters, discourses, and policies on this issue? We are working hard to this end,” he said.

He added that the EU must first decided on the relationship it wishes to have in the future, asking “does the EU want to make Turkey a member or not?”