The Cyprus negotiations will continue on January 18th between subjects matter experts. Should they answer a series of specific questions agreed yesterday in Geneva, the political section of the Conference will follow on a date that has not been decided yet.

The spokesman of the republic of Cyprus mr. Christodoulides stated that the subject matter experts will discuss the issues of Security and Guarantees and he added that these chapters being on the table is a success of the Greek-Cypriot side as it was their demand for a long time. Moreover, President’s Anastasiades’ proposal for the total abandonment of the guarantees set the framework of the negotiations.

In the official common Press Release of the Conference it is noted that both sides acknowledged that fact that the traditional security concerns of both communities must be answered and that the security of one community must not be at the expense of the other’s.

It also clears out that the negotiations on the other remaining issues will continue in Cyprus on parallel with the subject matter experts’ talks.

The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, however, made an inflammatory statement, arguing that “we have peace in Cyprus for the last 42 years … and this is something we owe to the Turkish Armed Forces”. He also went on attacking the EU by saying that Turkey will not accept any solution on a EU formula basis, adding “which problems did the EU solve? How can we trust a two-faced EU?”