Northern Cyprus, 14 February 2024 (TDI): President Ersin Tatar has met with a delegation of UK Parliamentarians who are paying a visit to the TRNC under the Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus Campaign.
President Tatar, who received the delegation on Friday (February 9), stated that the Cyprus issue has existed for 61 years and said that it is time to “open a new page and a new basis for a realistic and sustainable settlement” on the “basis of two States”.
According to the statement by the Presidency, in the meeting with the delegation, consisting of Heather Wheeler, Baroness Nosheena Mobarik, Giles Watling, Pauline Lathan, David Reed, Çetin Ramadan, and Rikki Williams, the President said: “The UK, as a guarantor and former colonial power, understands the Cyprus issue more than any other country”.
He further added, “The UK knows what has been lived in Cyprus, but has taken a very unfair position and is not treating the Turkish Cypriots on an equal basis.”
President Tatar stated that the former British Prime Minister, Harold MacMillan, had made statements in the UK Parliament in the 1950s that the Turkish Cypriot People also had the right of self-determination.
Stating that the Greek Cypriot side has no any legitimate or democratic right to represent the Turkish Cypriots, President Tatar said this is a fact that cannot be denied.
For more than half-a-century, the Greek Cypriot Side rejected all possible solutions including the UN Comprehensive Settlement [Annan] Plan of April 2004, where 76 per cent of Greek Cypriots voted against, and 65 per cent of Turkish Cypriots voted in favour of the UN, EU and international community supported plan in the separately held simultaneous referenda.”
President Tatar added that many promises had been made by international actors to end the isolation on the Turkish Cypriot People that would enable them to trade directly and travel directly to and from their own country.
“However, despite these promises, the inhumane isolation and restrictions continue on the Turkish Cypriot People,” President Tatar said.
President Tatar referred to the former late Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Nicos Rolandis, who publicly wrote that the Greek Cypriot side “has rejected at least 15 federal-based settlement plans over the past half-a-century”.
President Tatar said: “The EU is not an impartial actor and is always taking the side of the Greek Cypriots in a show of solidarity with its own member state.”
President Tatar stated that the TRNC is a state, with its own state organs and institutions, with its Presidency, Parliament, Judiciary, police, democracy, and civil organisations.
President Tatar stated that he is putting forward a position for a settlement on the basis of two States and the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot People, which is a position fully supported by the Republic of Türkiye.
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President Tatar emphasized: “The UK has two Sovereign Base Areas. The word ‘sovereign’ even exists in their names. The Greek Cypriots are accepted as being sovereign. But they tell us that the Turkish Cypriot People are not sovereign.
This is unacceptable and does not reflect the realities of the Island of Cyprus, where for decades there have been two States, each administering themselves.
After 61 years of this dispute, the time has come to agree on a settlement on the realities, where the two States can cooperate across different areas that will be to the benefit of both Sides, the region and most importantly, the future generations.”
