President Ersin Tatar holds an informal acquaintance meeting with Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides
In his acquaintance meeting with newly elected Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides, President Ersin Tatar has made a proposal for the two Sides in Cyprus to cooperate on earthquake matters.
President Tatar, who was accompanied by his Special Representative M. Ergün Olgun, held a press conference at the Presidency following the meeting that was hosted by UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Cyprus and Head of Mission of the UN Peacekeeping Force (UNFICYP) Colin Stewart at his official residency in the UN Buffer Zone.
Reminding that Mr Christodoulides was elected as the new leader of the Greek Cypriot Administration on February 12, the President stated that “the current issue of not only the Turkish Cypriot People, our island and the region, are the devastating earthquakes that occurred in the Republic of Türkiye, that has caused the loss of tens of thousands of lives and injuries”.
President Tatar added: “Although there were no physical effects in our country due to the powerful earthquakes in Türkiye, 50 of our citizens – of which half were schoolchildren, their teachers and family members, have died. These earthquakes have given way to unprecedented loss of life and injury. Tens of thousands of people have also unfortunately lost their lives in Motherland Türkiye. We are in deep mourning and sadness. May they rest in peace."
President Tatar added that despite the political differences with Mr Christodoulides, who is due to take office at the beginning of March, there is “a need to put our political differences aside and I have proposed cooperation in relation to probable earthquake, in terms of responses and sharing of information and expertise, because of the risk that exists to the island of Cyprus. Earthquakes do not recognise any borders or boundaries. We as the TRNC have emergency units that are experienced on earthquake scenarios. Our emergency response units, including our Civil Defence Directorate, which is our pride, has supported and actively participated in search and rescue operations not only in the latest earthquakes in Türkiye, but also in other countries.”
President Tatar stated that, in relation to the Cyprus issue, Mr Christodoulides has envisioned a federal based settlement as being the evolution of the ‘Republic of Cyprus’. He added that Mr Christodoulides is well informed about our position with regards to the settlement of the Cyprus issue. I explained to him that federal-based negotiations, which have become a symbol of the non-settlement of the Cyprus issue and serving the perpetuation of the continued inhumane isolation of the Turkish Cypriot People, has been exhausted. I explained that the Turkish Cypriot Side has withdrawn its consent for any settlement model to be used as a basis of settlement talks that is based on the exhausted basis.
“I represent a new policy that is fully supported by Motherland Türkiye,” the President said. “All attempts to reach a federal-based settlement for more than a half-a-century have failed to end with a resolution. My new policy is a reflection of the realities of the island of Cyprus, the reality being that there are two States in Cyprus. The sovereign equality of the Turkish Cypriot People needs to be reaffirmed if any new formal negotiations are going to be held. This inherent right emanates from history and the 1960 Republic of Cyprus constitution, that we were co-founders of, together with the Greek Cypriots. I hope that the new Greek Cypriot leader sees the reality in Cyprus. If we are going to find a common ground and for any new process and formal negotiations to be successful, we need to take into consideration the realities of the island.”
President Tatar, repeated that any new formal negotiations has to be based on the reaffirmation of the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot People and needs to be aimed at establishing a new constructive cooperative relationship between the two existing States on the island. He added that the way to changing what all sides perceive as the unacceptable status-quo is to have a new formal negotiations process, that is based on the realities in the island of Cyprus.