A series of cooperation agreements signed by leaders from Greece, Cyprus and Jordan on Tuesday at a trilateral summit in Nicosia have come under fire from Turkey as “unacceptable”.
The stance was communicated through an official statement released by the occupied territory of northern Cyprus.
“The Greek Cypriot administration’s signing of treaties together with Greece and Jordan on sectors like health, education, agriculture and mainly energy, in ignorance of Turkish Cypriots’ essential rights on the island where they are joint owners of it, is unacceptable,” the statement read.
It was the first high-level trilateral summit of its kind between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
The three leaders signed a declaration for cooperation between their countries in the fields of security, peace, and prosperity aimed at promoting cooperation in both the public and private sectors.
Mr Anastasiades said the summit had come at a good time, and was a chance to reconfirm the bonds of relations and friendship between the countries.
“The declaration reflects the common understanding of the three countries that cooperation can contribute to handling the challenges in the wider region,” he said.
“One of the most important challenges we are asked to handle is fighting terrorism, a phenomenon that requires the close cooperation of the three countries.”
Bilateral agreements were also signed by Cyprus and Jordan regarding economic and technical cooperation, as well as mutual academic recognition of higher education qualifications.
The statement released by occupied northern Cyprus had somewhat of a threatening tone, stating that they would not respect one-sided steps taken by Greek Cypriots and that they would “not hesitate to take counter steps”.
“We would like to stress once more that we will rapidly continue consultations with Turkey about our future,” continued the statement, adding that the north would “not at all be bound by the agreements signed today.”