President Ersin Tatar meets UN Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus Colin Stewart
“We completely oppose the involvement of the EU on the Cyprus issue”
President Ersin Tatar received the UN Special Representative and Head of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus Colin Stewart, prior to the planned visit of the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo next week.
The meeting, which was also attended by Special Representative of the President, M. Ergün Olgun and members of the negotiating team, lasted about an hour.
Holding a press conference following the meeting, President Tatar stated: “We reiterated our position that formal negotiations could be started after the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot People is reaffirmed, because this is our inherent right. Our position is unequivocal and clear. At this present time, the current circumstances are not palatable to start new negotiations. Our new policy is fully supported by Guarantor and Motherland Türkiye.”
President Tatar stated that he is pleased with the bilateral technical committees established jointly between the two Sides, to facilitate daily life and that the continuity of these committees should be secured. President Tatar added: “We have put forward our new policy in the meetings we have held for the past two years, which is fully supported by the Republic of Türkiye. Mr. Stewart is also putting a lot of effort into this issue, and I thank him and his team for their efforts. Similar issues will of course come up again during the visit of Ms. DiCarlo next week.”
President Tatar stated that he will be heading to Ankara on the evening of March 15 with the invitation by the Republic of Türkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to attend the summit of the Organisation of Turkic States on March 16 and therefore no discussions were held with Mr. Stewart with regards to having a tripartite meeting with the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and Ms. DiCarlo at this time.
“Nobody can force us to start formal negotiations,” the President said. “Such a situation cannot and will not happen. We will stand by what we have said in order to help create certain conditions through diplomacy.”
Pointing out that the struggle of the TRNC is carried out together with Motherland Türkiye, President Tatar emphasised that there are two separate States in Cyprus which are the realities of the island that should be accepted. “Turkish Cypriot People were expulsed by force of arms from the Partnership state apparatus of the Republic of Cyprus,” the President said, adding: “The Greek Cypriot Side rejected many plans and attempts to reach an equality-based settlement over many decades. The Turkish Cypriot People have effectively been governing themselves as a State, and we resisted all the attempts to make Cyprus a Hellenic island. The Turkish Cypriot People have effectively been governing themselves and established their own State which has been in existence for the past 60 years.”
President Tatar stated that during the meeting with Mr Stewart, he explained that the Turkish Cypriot People do not accept the mentality that the ‘Republic of Cyprus’ “is the sole sovereign rulers of the island of Cyprus, nor that it is competent to legitimately represent the whole island or the Turkish Cypriot People”. He added: “In Cyprus, there are two Sides and they each have their own separate administrations who have taken and enacted numerous decisions over very many years”.
Stating that he has proposed for the two Sides to “cooperate with regards to earthquake issues,” the President said: “We have declared that we are open to cooperating with the Greek Cypriot Administration on matters related to a probable earthquake. We see such a cooperation on earthquake issues as benefitting both Sides, and we will be raising this in our meeting with Ms. DiCarlo.”
“Nobody outside the two Sides, three Guarantor powers and the UN can be involved in the Cyprus issue”
When asked about Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides's efforts to involve the EU in the process, President Tatar stated: “We completely oppose further involvement of the EU on the Cyprus issue. This is because Greece and South Cyprus are both member states of the bloc, who are trying to involve the EU in the Cyprus issue.”
President Tatar stated that no third party, except the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot Sides, and Guarantors Türkiye, Greece and the UK and the UN, can sit at the table with regards to the Cyprus issue. He said the EU has “no place” as a side.
President Tatar said that Christodoulides's effort to involve the EU, which is on the side of the Greek Cypriots, is "deliberate", but that the Turkish Cypriot side shall never allow it and stated that he conveyed this to Mr. Stewart.
Upon being asked a question with regards to fresh news reports in South Cyprus over Greek Cypriot militarisation, President Tatar said: “We put forward six cooperation proposals in July of last year, with regards to how the two Sides can cooperate on hydrocarbons in the eastern Mediterranean, sharing fresh water piped 80km undersea from Türkiye to our Geçitköy dam, how we can connect our electricity grids through a feasible interconnection system via Türkiye to the EU, how we can work on transition to green energy, clearing the entire island of Cyprus from land-mines and how we can work together to tackle the issue of irregular migration. Whilst we are making these cooperation proposals, it is saddening to see that the Greek Cypriot Side is working to bolster its military capacity, which is also dangerous with regards to peace and stability in the region. The Republic of Türkiye is obliged to provide security to the Turkish Cypriot People.”
Noting that the armament of the Greek Cypriot Side and escalation of tension in the eastern Mediterranean does not benefit anyone, President Tatar stated: “We desire peace, prosperity, development and cooperation, in the interests of the two Peoples in Cyprus. I reiterate our six cooperation proposals we conveyed to the Greek Cypriot Side in July 2022 via the UN Secretary-General. This island does not only belong to the Greek Cypriot Administration. There are two founding partners on this island. We have as much say as they do in the resources both on and around the island. The whole world knows this," he said.