President Ersin Tatar addresses a symposium at Istanbul University
“A great success story has been written with the establishment of a Turkish state in the eastern Mediterranean”
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President Ersin Tatar is paying a visit to İstanbul to take part in events celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation.
The President visited İstanbul University and addressed the “International Cyprus Symposium on the Ongoing Problems and Search for Solutions on the 50th Anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation”, organised under the auspices of Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Numan Kurtulmuş, in cooperation with İstanbul University and Cihannüma Association.
Prior to the symposium, the President first visited the exhibition entitled “Cyprus with Documents” that was held at the university, where he met with Mr Kurtulmuş, the rector of Istanbul University, Prof. Dr. Osman Bülent and other academicians.
President Tatar thanked the organisers of the symposium, and stated that he was “privileged” to be addressing the symposium at İstanbul University on the “momentous anniversary marking the 50th anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation”.
“Important messages with regards to the two State position as a basis for a permanent settlement to the Cyprus issue have been put forward during the course of the celebrations held in the TRNC,” President Tatar said.
President Tatar stated that the July 20, Peace and Freedom celebrations were attended by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Türkiye, adding: “The TRNC hosted unprecedented celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation which stopped the atrocities, violence and bloodshed. The Turkish Cypriot People were saved from attempted extermination. Türkiye had to act due to the 11-years of attempted acts of genocide against our people and the attacks by Greek-Greek Cypriot Cypriot forces and EOKA terrorists on 103 Turkish Cypriot villages between 1963 to 1974 and the coup d’etat by the Greek Junta on 15 July 1974, where the ‘Hellenic Republic of Cyprus’ had been declared. The suffering of Turkish Cypriot People came to an end, and peace was brought to both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots following the peace operation that was started on July 20, 1974,” President Tatar said.
President Tatar explained the history of the Island of Cyprus, the Ottoman conquest of the Island in 1571 and its 307-year rule of the geostrategic Island that is located in the eastern Mediterranean, 40 miles away from Motherland Türkiye, on the cross-roads of three important continents: Europe, Asia and Africa.
“The Ottomans leased the Island of Cyprus to Britain in 1878. Britain annexed the Island in 1914 which it formally declared as a Crown Colony in 1925. However during this period, there were thousands of Greeks who were transported to the Island to bolster the Greek population, whilst the Turks of Cyprus were forced to emigrate to other parts of the world. The Greek Cypriot agitation for uniting Cyprus with Greece came to the fore up until 1960, where the Turkish Cypriot People and Greek Cypriot Peopke – both of which have the right of self-determination and are a sovereign people – exercised these rights as co-founders of the partnership Republic of Cyprus,” President Tatar said.
Explaining that just three years after the establishment of the republic, Archbishop Makarios, who was President of the republic, openly declared that the republic was a “springboard” for uniting Cyprus with Greece. President Tatar explained that the Turkish Cypriot People were expelled from the state apparatus of the partnership republic in December 1963, and forced to live in enclaves and camps. "The Turkish Cypriots were forced to effectively establish their own state to govern themselves from this date onwards," President Tatar said.
President Tatar explained that the UN Security Council endorsed resolution 186 in March 1964, in order to deploy UN Peacekeeping forces to the Island to protect Turkish Cypriot civilians. “However, this resolution, despite the international agreements and the inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot People, treated the Greek Cypriot side as though they were the sole government of the Island, which has become the root cause of the Cyprus issue. The Greek Cypriot side is not more sovereign, nor more equal, than Turkish Cypriots, who have exactly the same inherent rights in Cyprus. The Greek Cypriot Side are not the partnership republic we had established in 1960, which they destroyed, which they have transformed into a Greek Cypriot Administration," President Tatar said.
Explaining that the Greek Cypriot former Foreign Minister Nicos Rolandis publicly wrote that the Greek Cypriot Side has “rejected at least 15 settlement plans” for more than a half-a-century, President Tatar said: “The most significant moment for a settlement in Cyprus was in April 2004. It was then that the international community-backed UN Comprehensive Settlement Plan – known as the Annan Plan – was negotiated and put to a separately held simultaneous referenda on both Sides of Cyprus. The Greek Cypriot Side rejected the plan by 76 per cent. The Turkish Cypriot People accepted the plan by 65 per cent.”
Stating that “the international community had at the time made so many undertakings to end the isolation and restrictions on the Turkish Cypriot People,” President Tatar said: “The then UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan, stated that the rationale for keeping Turkish Cypriot isolated no longer existed. EU officials, and even the Council of Europe, stated that the inhuman isolation on Turkish Cypriots will be ended. Undertakings were made for direct flights and direct trade with our country. None of these undertakings have come to fruition to date.”
President Tatar added that the last and final attempt to reach a federal-based settlement “collapsed in Crans-Montana in July 2017,” adding: “The half-a-century old federal basis of negotiations has been tried, failed and exhausted. The Greek Cypriot Side, which was unilaterally accepted into the EU as a member one-week after the Annan Plan referenda whilst Turkish Cypriots were left out in the cold and isolated, have absolutely no incentive to share governance or the resources of the Island, on the basis of equality, with the Turkish Cypriot People.”
“I was elected by my people because of my two State vision as being a sustainable and realistic basis of a settlement in Cyprus,” President Tatar said. “There is no point in continuing to hold negotiations on the same failed and exhausted basis. My vision, which I first put forward to the international community in April 2021 in Geneva, is fully supported by Motherland and Guarantor Türkiye,” President Tatar said.
“I have repeatedly stated that we are ready to start new and formal negotiations once the inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriot People, namely our sovereign equality and equal international status, has been reaffirmed and acknowledged. For this, we have stated that there needs to be direct flights, direct trade and direct contact of the Turkish Cypriot leadership with the international community. The isolation issue also violates the individual and collective human rights of Turkish Cypriot People,” President Tatar said.
Stating that a “great success story was written” with the establishment of a Turkish state in the eastern Mediterranean, President Tatar underlined the importance of the maritime jurisdiction areas and airspace in the eastern Mediterranean and stated that “we will continue the struggle for its protection”.
President Tatar, in reference to the importance of “sovereignty,” said: “The Greek Cypriot Side are recognised as a sovereign state. The British – who governed the island for 45-years, has two sovereign basis. However, the Turkish Cypriot People, who have been on the Island since 1571, are denied recognition of their sovereignty, which is our inherent right. This gross injustice needs to come to an end. We will continue to put forward our vision for a two State settlement based on the cooperative relationship of two neighbouring States.”
Noting that there are “significant dangers” for the Turkish Cypriot people in a settlement that is based on “single sovereignty”, President Tatar said: “The whole of the Island will be inside the EU. The guarantee of Türkiye would be ended, and she would leave the Island with her troops. Being outside the EU, Türkiye would be excluded from the eastern Mediterranean. In such a setup, the far more politically and economically superior Greek Cypriot Side would use this as a basis to turn Cyprus into a Greek Island. However, a two State settlement and the existence of the Guarantee of Türkiye would ensure the survival and protection of the Turkish Cypriot People forever, and the Island of Cyprus would become an island of cooperation, sustainable peace and stability for the region.”
President Tatar thanked the Turkish Grand National Assembly for the resolution adopted prior to the 50th anniversary celebrations, which he said was “invaluable that has added more strength to our two State position”.
“Once again, Türkiye has reaffirmed her support to the two State position,” President Tatar said.
President Tatar concluded his address by reiterating his gratitude to the organisers for the symposium, and reminded the youth of Türkiye of the importance of the Cyprus national cause and the continuing struggle for justice, equality and recognition.