President Ersin Tatar addresses the official parade held at Dr. Fazıl Küçük Boulevard to celebrate the 41st anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
"The federation book is closed. New ideas as a basis for a settlement will be evaluated in future meetings"
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President Ersin Tatar addressed the official parade, held to celebrate the 41st anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, at the Dr. Fazıl Küçük Boulevard in Lefkoşa.
The President addressed the parade that was attended by Cevdet Yılmaz, Vice President of the Republic of Türkiye, officials from the TRNC and other countries, including military officials and representatives from different political parties and members of the public.
Stating that the “Turkish Cypriot people suffered and experienced acts of genocide carried out against them as part of the aspiration by the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo to unite Cyprus with Greece," President Tatar added: “Despite attempts to unite Cyprus with Greece and to completely exterminate Turkish Cypriots, our people never gave up and acted with great determination and resilience, as the children of Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk."
Stressing that the Turkish Cypriot People “put forward a great struggle to protect their inherent rights and rights of self-determination throughout history,” President Tatar said: “Turkish Cypriots succeeded in putting forward a resistance against the British Colonial Administration and the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo. The Turkish Cypriot People were one of the equal co-founders of the partnership 1960 Republic of Cyprus. However, we were expelled from the state apparatus of the republic by force of arms by the Greek Cypriot side in December 1963 and faced numerous atrocities committed under annihilation plans from 1963 to 1974. Our People lived in dire conditions in small enclaves and tents and deprived of their basic human rights whilst watched by the UN which wrongly recognised the Greek Cypriot Side as being the sole government of the Island of Cyprus with Resolution 186, passed in March 1964, in order to deploy UN Peacekeepers to the Island to protect Turkish Cypriot civilians from the attacks.”
President Tatar added that in July 1974, a coup d’etat was staged by the Greek Junta and the ‘Hellenic Republic of Cyprus’ was declared. Motherland Türkiye, as one of the guarantor powers, was obliged to undertake the Cyprus Peace Operation, in order to save the Turkish Cypriot People, which she did on July 20, 1974, the day after Archbishop Makarios addressed the UN Security Council, where he declared that “Greece has invaded Cyprus”.
Stating that negotiations between the sides failed time after time as the Greek Cypriots rejected all possible solution plans whilst continuing to portray themselves as the sole government of the partnership Republic of Cyprus they had destroyed in December 1963, President Tatar stated that the "Turkish Cypriot People, as an expression of their rights to self-determination and in exercise of their sovereignty, first established the Turkish Federated State under the leadership of the Founding President Rauf Raif Denktaş, which was followed by the proclamation of the TRNC as an independent Turkish State, 41 years ago".
“We are today celebrating the 41st anniversary of our democratic republic as free people in peace and we are continuing our struggle for justice,” President Tatar said.
President Tatar said: “The Turkish Cypriot people, who were among the first to implement Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's reforms despite the oppressive administration, were proud to be able to pass on to their children what independence and freedom meant and the new generations in the country grew up with national values, spiritual values and love for Motherland Türkiye."
“Atatürk warned that Cyprus should not fall into enemy hands,” President Tatar said, adding: “Turkish Cypriots were able to survive until the 1960s with their struggle and became the co-founding partner of the republic, established in 1960. This right to sovereignty is the basis of the new national position. Our inherent rights, namely our sovereign equality and equal international status, is not subject to negotiation.”
Stating that “new and formal negotiations can be started following the reaffirmation of our sovereign equality and equal international status,” President Tatar said: “This new vision and position is fully supported by the Republic of Türkiye. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Türkiye, has supported this new position in his addresses at the 77th, 78th and 79th sessions of the UN General Assembly. He has called upon world nations to formally recognise the TRNC, to end the inhumane isolation on us, and to establish economic, political and diplomatic relations with us. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to President Erdoğan, and to Motherland Türkiye in her support to our position, and for making the voice of the Turkish Cypriot People – who do not have access to such platforms -- heard at this important international platform,” President Tatar said.
Pointing out that the two sides had met last month at the informal dinner at the UN, President Tatar said: “I put forward my position that it is time the inhumane isolation and embargoes on the Turkish Cypriot People come to an end. Furthermore, I pointed out that whilst we have been waiting for steps to be taken that will end our isolation, the Greek Cypriot side has recently been escalating its oppression and intimidation against our people and that all these attempts to harm us are futile because the TRNC has a rightful cause, and we will not abandon on our fundamental principles.”
Emphasising that the “Turkish Cypriot people are ready to cooperate with the Greek Cypriot side on the basis of sovereignty”, President Tatar said: "The Island of Cyprus can be included in the European Union interconnection system with a cable through the Republic of Türkiye. We can cooperate on exploring and exploiting energy resources around the Island in the eastern Mediterranean. We can cooperate on the rationale use and development of freshwater resources, including making the water transported from Türkiye via undersea pipelines a water of peace. I shared my ideas with regards to different areas of cooperation with the Greek Cypriot leader, in the presence of the UN Secretary-General. I also stated that we should be in communication as the two sides for the opening of new crossing points.”
“The UN Secretary-General has stated that he will be hosting a broader meeting in the coming months. I have proposed that discussions on the next steps and new ideas can take place at the broader meeting which will also be attended by the two motherlands as the federation book has been closed,” President Tatar said.
President Tatar underlined that “our way is the struggle for justice and our path is a future together with Türkiye”.
“As the Turkish Cypriot people, our only wish in these lands are to be able to walk towards the future with hope and to continue our lives in peace, tranquillity and security in the eastern Mediterranean, in this important and critical region," President Tatar said, stressing: “We have no interest in anybody else’s rights. All we wish is to protect our own legitimate rights and interests”.
President Tatar also expressed his “gratitude to the Turkish Armed Forces for the Girne Military Hospital” that was opened yesterday, which started to serve the public in a short time. “I am happy that the hospital has been given such a meaningful name: ‘24 December 1963’, in memory of those who lost their lives in the Bloody Christmas attacks on 24 December, 1963," the President said.
President Tatar emphasised that they are “making efforts to increase the welfare and development of the country with the projects prepared in every sector with the Republic of Türkiye”, adding that “pre-pandemic economic figures have not yet been reached. . . I hope that the new financial cooperation protocol will come into force as soon as possible”.
Expressing his belief that the TRNC will come to a “much better point with its sustainable financial structure and new investments”, President Tatar said that this will “further increase the trust and confidence in TRNC as a Turkish State in the eastern Mediterranean”.
“We have had successes in the past four years,” President Tatar said. “The TRNC has been accepted as an observer member to the Organisation of Turkic States under its constitutional name. Since then, many of our organisations and institutions are developing relations across different areas with their equals in other Turkic States. The TRNC is an integral and inseparable part of the Turkic world. I have participated in a number of important summits of the Organisation of Turkic States. These are indications that the TRNC is continuing its path with firm steps as an independent Turkish State. We are the gatekeeper, the southernmost Turkish state, and a window of the Turkic World to the eastern Mediterranean,” President Tatar said.
Expressing the importance of increasing contacts with Türkiye in recent years along with the new policy, President Tatar noted that in the light of the developments in the eastern Mediterranean, the “Blue Homeland is significantly more important than in previous years”, and that at this point, “walking in cooperation with Türkiye is a future guaranteed".
Explaining that “different joint projects will be carried out in energy resources for strategic and political purposes”, President Tatar said: “It makes us even more excited that in the future, we will be able to have drilling vessles bearing the TRNC flag, that will conduct surveys in the eastern Mediterranean, in the Blue Homeland.”
“Beating together are the hearts of all the Turkish Cypriot People all over the world, from the TRNC, all the way to Australia,” President Tatar said: "We have Motherland Türkiye – a country of 85 million people, firmly behind us. And beyond that, our own brothers and sisters who continue their lives in the UK, all the way to Australia."
President Tatar remembered with respect and paid tribute to the leader of the Turkish Cypriot people's struggle for existence and freedom, Dr. Fazıl Küçük, Founding President Rauf Raif Denktaş and his companions, Late Prime Minister of Türkiye Bülent Ecevit, Deputy Prime Minister late Necmettin Erbakan, Adnan Menderes, the late Prime Minister of Türkiye, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and their companions, as well as to all mujahideen and Turkish soldiers who were martyred. “I express my heartfelt gratitude to them all. May they all rest in eternal peace. May our veterans live happy and healthy lives,” President Tatar said.