No intention to grant citizenship to Turkey settlers

Turkish Cypriots, who are currently engaged in negotiations with the Greek Cypriots on a deal to reunify their island, sought on Monday to allay concerns over derailing the effort.

Mustafa Akinci, the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, said that his side had no intention to grant citizenship to some 25,000 settlers from mainland Turkey.

"There is no such an issue on our agenda and there is no intention of making such moves that would blow sky-high the negotiations," said Akinci after a negotiation session with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

Turkey sent tens of thousands of settlers to beef up the population of a breakaway state it set up in the northern part of Cyprus in 1974, invoking intervention rights following a coup by the military rulers of Greece at the time.

The number of settlers remaining in Cyprus is one of the thorny issues in the negotiations.

The Cypriot government warned EU member states last week that granting citizenship to more people in the occupied part of Cyprus would most certainly block any prospects of a settlement.

The issue loomed threateningly over the negotiations as a new nationalist coalition government susceptible to receiving directions from Turkey is set to take over after receiving confirmation from the Turkish Cypriot parliament later on Monday night.

The Turkish government was reported to have asked authorities in the occupied part of Cyprus to proceed with naturalizing more settlers as a condition for continuing to finance the breakaway state.

But Akinci said he did not expect to be faced with a situation that would block the negotiating process.

Source: XINHUA