Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akinci said Wednesday that Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades had rejected his proposal for a new Cyprus conference in Geneva "without preconditions".
Speaking to press members after a five-hour meeting in the UN-administered buffer zone in Lefkosa, Akinci said: "The proposal we made today for a Geneva meeting in June without any preconditions was rejected by the Greek Cypriot leader."
Akinci accused Anastasiades of not being constructive or creative.
"Today the Greek Cypriot leader did not come up with a constructive or creative offer, but preconditions instead.
"Offering unacceptable preconditions under the name of a constructive and creative proposal will not lead to a resolution," he said.
The Turkish Cypriot president added that the only way to solve the Cyprus issue was to discuss and finalize all pending issues at a single conference in Geneva, instead of discussing each item separately.
"If we want a solution, then there is no other alternative left as we have tried all other methods," he said.
Akinci also said the Greek Cypriot side's attempts to continue unilateral hydrocarbon explorations in the divided island was "very problematic" and would "trigger new tensions''.
Their offer to postpone the explorations planned for July was also rejected, he added.
Cyprus was divided into a Turkish Cypriot state in the north and a Greek Cypriot administration in the south after an Enosis-inspired 1974 military coup was followed by violence against the island’s Turkish people, and Turkey’s intervention as a guarantor power.
The reunification talks -- brokered by UN Special Cyprus Envoy Espen Barth Eide -- were launched in May 2015 to discuss a permanent settlement for the divided Mediterranean island.
The status of the island remains unresolved in spite of a series of discussions that resumed in May 2015.
Despite the disputed status, the Greek Cypriot administration continued to unilaterally open new tenders for hydrocarbon explorations without any collaboration with Turkish Cypriots.