The Turkish Cypriot side has expressed its readiness to introduce mutually acceptable confidence-building measures (CBMs), the Office of the President announced in a written statement on Monday.

The statement also pointed out the so-called CBMs the Greek Cypriot leadership is trying to promote at various international platforms was nothing more than old and exhausted proposals.

The Office of the President said that it must not be forgotten that it was the Greek Cypriot side which had rejected all confidence building packages proposed to date as was the case with all comprehensive solution plans proposed or instigated by the UN.

“It seems that the Greek Cypriot leadership’s efforts to dominate the Turkish Cypriot people and force them to make concessions from their vested sovereign rights is being presented under the disguise of confidence building measures this time,” the statement read.

It added that such attempts were hurting efforts to build confidence between the two sides.

The Office of the President said that any confidence-building measures to be adopted must respect the equality of the two sides, should be mutually beneficial and should make sure that one side does not infringe the other’s sovereignty or authority.

“Instead the Greek Cypriot side, acting as the sole owner of the island, is proposing a set of measures which ignores the vested sovereign rights of the Turkish Cypriot side. Such attempts are unacceptable,” it said.

The president’s office reminded that the Turkish Cypriot side’s July 2019 dated proposal for cooperation on the issue of natural resources was still valid and on the table.

“If the Greek Cypriot side truly aims at building confidence, it should seriously consider the creation of a mechanism based on equality that will oversee all operations regarding the island’s hydrocarbon reserves,” it said.

The statement added that the continuation of the status quo and the Greek Cypriot side’s insistence on acting as the island’s sole sovereign authority will only serve to deepen mistrust between the two sides.

“It is worthy to note that the decades of unjust treatment and embargoes imposed on the Turkish Cypriot side by the Greek Cypriots have removed any feelings of trust, pushing the two peoples away from a political partnership. If the Greek Cypriot side truly wishes to embark on a new path as it is trying to portray to the international community to remove the isolations imposed on the Turkish Cypriot people, it should do so by sincerely respecting the sovereign equality of the Turkish Cypriot side and end these inhumane embargoes through unilateral actions,” the statement read.