12 July 2017•Update: 13 July 2017
By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet
ANKARA
Turkey hit back Wednesday at comments by Greece’s foreign minister about the Conference on Cyprus held in Crans-Montana.
In a written statement, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu said Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias earlier this week accused Turkey of displaying an uncompromising attitude during the Conference on Cyprus held.
Muftuoglu said Kotzias' remarks "are completely unacceptable" and is making unfounded allegations and engaging in a blame game.
"Those who know that their approach is unconstructive and wholly devoid of the spirit of compromise, are prone to voicing baseless and untrue allegations so as to be able to blame those who display good faith and constructiveness, contrary to themselves.
"As the one responsible for the inability of the Conference on Cyprus to produce results either in Geneva or in Crans-Montana, Greek Foreign Minister Mr. Kotzias’ useless efforts to place the blame on Turkey are actually an attempt to disguise the fact that the negotiations failed because of the lack of good faith and political will on the part of his country and the Greek Cypriot side,” he said.
"We invite Minister Kotzias, who exerted no effort whatsoever towards a positive conclusion of the Conference, to at least act responsibly from now on."
The talks to reunify the island of Cyprus ended in failure.
Representatives from the EU, the Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaderships, and the guarantor nations of Turkey, Greece and the U.K., participated in the discussions that began at the end of last month to resolve the dispute.
The UN sought a peace deal to unite Cyprus under a federal umbrella that could also define the future of Europe's relations with Turkey, a key player in the conflict.
The Eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974, when a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by violence against the island's Turks, and Ankara's intervention as a guarantor power.
