The Office of the President has said that the issue of confidence-building measures (CBMs) was being exploited.

In a written statement issued on Tuesday, the President’s Office said that the Turkish Cypriot side desired the creation of a mechanism for cooperation based on a win-win principle, equality and co-dependency of the two sides.

It reminded that the Turkish Cypriot side was just as sovereign as the Greek Cypriot side and that it was ready to introduce confidence building measures through the consent of both sides on the basis of the legitimate rights of the two sides.

Criticizing the Greek Cypriot side’s recent attempts to bring to the fore a number of so-called confidence building measures despite knowing that these are impossible to accept or implement, the statement said that these attempts were aimed at concealing their own intransigence and to convince Turkish Cypriots to make concessions from their sovereignty through false economic promises.

“The Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades has recently proposed such confidence-building measures in an attempt to conceal the collapse of the EastMed pipeline project which will hurt him politically,” the statement read.

It pointed out that confidence-building measures can be taken and work only if it will benefit both sides and if one side does not exercise authority of sovereignty over the other.

“Unfortunately, the Greek Cypriot side, instead of doing this, by exploiting its international recognition, particularly its EU membership, is seeking international support for its unacceptable proposals. No doubt the reason why the Cyprus Problem has remained unresolved is because the Greek Cypriot side which sees itself as the sole authority on the island refuses to recognize vested equal rights,” the statement added.

The Office of the President also reminded that the Turkish Cypriot side’s proposal for cooperation on the natural resources surrounding the island of Cyprus was still on the table.