A ceremony was held today at the Atatürk Cultural Centre in Lefkoşa as part of the celebrations organised for the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the Cyprus Turkish Security Forces Command, the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Resistance Organisation and the 450th anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus.

In his speech at the ceremony, President Ersin Tatar said: “We are celebrating the anniversary of three major events that are the cornerstone of Turkish Cypriot history. We are joyfully celebrating the Day of Social Resistance. Our roots in these lands go back to the 1570s. We have a long standing history of 450 years in Cyprus,” he said.

President Tatar said: “As Turkish Cypriots we have passed through various stages. The Turkish Cypriot people put up tolerance and resistance in these lands in a way that is very sacred and worthy of our nation. But all the time, the Republic of Turkey and the Anatolian Turks were with us.”

 


“ATTACKS ARE STILL CONTINUING WITH SOME COLLABORATORS”

Recalling that the Turkish Resistance Organisation (TMT) was established on August 1, 1958 as a defence organisation, President Tatar continued his speech as follows:

“The EOKA organisation, which came into existence and which staged very ugly attacks in the 1950s, was an aggressive offensive organisation aimed at uniting the island of Cyprus with Greece. It was a terrorist organisation that resorted to barbarism, horror, by exterminating both the British and the Turkish Cypriots from here.”

President Tatar added: “We experienced the terrible sorrow of brutality with this organisation which  is an element that killed many of our people, took our innocent unarmed people from their homes and shot them and even buried them in mass graves.   And the form of attack continues today, ableit in a different form. Whilst the Turkish Cypriots have decided to develop their own state, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the attacks of the other party still continue with some collaborators within us.”



 

“We SHOULD KNOW OUR HISTORY WELL. . .”

President Tatar called on the youth of the TRNC to “learn our history well,” adding: “We have very good writers, teachers and historians who know history well and tell it to current generations and young people. Keeping all these on the agenda, knowing our history. . .we should not forget that we can only shape the future by knowing the history.”

 



“THE 1960 TREATIES ARE RESULT OF HARD STRUGGLE…”

The 1960 Treaties emerged after a long hard struggle.  Of course, again, with the support of our motherland  Turkey. . . The prime minister of that time, Adnan Menderes, and the foreign minister, Fatih Rüştü Zorlu, who also contributed greatly to the establishment of the Turkish Resistance Organisation, said President Tatar and continued his speech as follows:

“If we exist in Cyprus today,  if the TMT then successfully showed to the world that we exist,  if the Turkish Cypriot people were able to put up a proper resistance  back then, if the Turkish Cypriot people were able to enshrine their rights as an equal partner in the 1960 Treaties, then it would be useful to remember once again that these two names contributed greatly.”




“DESPITE ALL THIS, WE ARE STILL FACED WITH A MENTALITY THAT QUESTIONS OUR RIGHT TO BE A STATE”

Pointing out what happened after the 1960 Treaties, President Tatar said that the intention of the other side was never to keep the Republic of Cyprus alive or to share it with the Turkish Cypriots on the basis of equality.

President Tatar continued:

“The whole world knows about the historical developments of Cyprus that lead to the events of 1974. As you know, there was a coup d’état  attempt with Greece's collaborators here on July 15 that was aimed at uniting the island with Greece, after Turkish Cypriots were forced out of the state apparatus at gun point which lasted 11 years. A constitutional crime was committed. Turkey was compelled to intervene as a guarantor power under international treaties. Despite all of these developments, we are still faced with a mentality that questions our right to be a state.”

Pointing out that negotiations based on a federal settlement has been held for more than half-a-century, the President said that a settlement has not been reached.    President Tatar said that with his election as President, he had been given a new mandate and support on his policy for a two State settlement.

“We are explaining to the international community that a viable settlement in Cyprus can be achieved with the cooperation of two equal sovereign States that coexist side-by-side which are in cooperation with one another. This is also a position that is supported by the Republic of Turkey,” the President said.

President Tatar stated that the messages given by the Republic of Turkey, National Defence Minister Hulusi Akar yesterday was "crystal clear," and said: "The Cyprus cause is the cause of the Turkish Cypriots, but it is also the cause of 84 million Turks in the Republic of Turkey. No one should think that we, Turkish Cypriots, have achieved success in this struggle and that we have won our statehood on our own in Cyprus. Yes, our grandfathers and ancestors resisted, but Turkey and Turkish soldiers were always with us”.

 

President Tatar said: "As a part of a great nation, as representatives of a great nation, as the guards of the frontier, when we evaluate the developments in the eastern Mediterranean, a new national policy should find a place and be voiced."


 

REACTION FROM PRESIDENT TATAR TO WHAT WAS WRITTEN IN THE BRITISH NEWSPAPER: “WHAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN IN THE NEWSPAPER IS ASTONISHING

President Tatar also reacted to what was written about Cyprus in a British newspaper yesterday, describing what was written in the newspaper as "astonishing".

“At the current stage, the Maraş opening is a dimension of big politic,” the President said. “They thought  Maraş was in their pocket.   The Greek Cypriot side, who voted against the Annan Plan in 2004, was admitted to the EU as the sole representative of the whole of Cyprus, and that even though the approvals of the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot people were required, we were never asked or consulted.”

Stating that the Greek Cypriot side "with the support of the EU. . .are in an attempt of trying to force the Turkish Cypriots to bow to accepting an imposed solution,” President Tatar said that the Turkish Cypriots “will not heed to these efforts, and we will continue to fight in every situation for the recognition of our sovereign equality and equal international status.”  President Tatar also reminded that the Turkish Cypriot side had at the five-plus-UN informal meeting held in Geneva last April, put forward a stance that an agreement in Cyprus could be based on the sovereign equality of the two States.  He added that this policy is supported by the Republic of Turkey.

 


“WE ARE AT A CRITICAL POINT ONCE AGAIN”

President Tatar said: "We are again at a very important critical point.    We can never give up on our State. This is a national struggle for our existence and sovereign equality. It is a national struggle. With the continuation of this policy, maybe we will experience difficulties, maybe there may be some economic short-sightedness, but in the end, the greatest virtue of a nation is to live in the state it has established, it is the crowning of its national struggle and it is to fight it with great strength and perseverance.”

President Tatar wished mercy to those who lost their lives in the fires in Turkey, and thanked everyone who contributed to the efforts made in extinguishing the fire that broke out in Karşıyaka yesterday.