President Ersin Tatar holds contacts in Trabzon
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President Ersin Tatar is on a visit to the Turkish city of Trabzon in the Black Sea region, where he has started holding contacts.
The president's first visit on Friday was to the Trabzon Governor’s Office.
Holding a press conference there, President Tatar stated that Trabzon is an “important and valuable city for the TRNC, because there are many citizens from Trabzon and the Black Sea region of Türkiye who have settled in our country following the Cyprus Peace Operation in 1974, who have since been contributing to the social and economic development of the country”.
“The hard-working people of Trabzon have also been contributing to the national struggle of the Turkish Cypriot People to co-exist on the Island of Cyprus,” President Tatar said.
The President added: “We are continuing to act in solidarity and with the full support of Türkiye in conveying our new position for a settlement in Cyprus that is based on the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot Side. Negotiations on the federal basis have been exhausted. We are seeking a fresh new realistic and sustainable basis.”
President Tatar stated that he has completed his third year in office as the President, and said he is continuing to “work hard and make every effort to convey the just cause of the Turkish Cypriot People to the international community with the support of Türkiye, and to promote the TRNC to the rest of the world. I am also conveying the just cause of the Turkish Cypriot People to all segments of our society and to our young generations” he said.
Stating that “Trabzonspor is very much in my heart even if I am a supporter of Beşiktaş,” President Tatar wished success to Trabzonspor football club.
Explaining the importance of “having direct flights between the TRNC and the City of Trabzon,” President Tatar said: “Direct flights to and from Trabzon to the TRNC will be started as from March.”
Pointing out that “there are nearly 30,000 citizens from Trabzon living in the TRNC,” President Tatar stated that “this number is on the increase with relatives and families living in the country” and said that they are continuing to work for the strengthening and development of the “ancient ties” between the Turkish Cypriot People and the people of Trabzon.
The President added that the annually organised traditional “Anchovy Festival” will be held this year in the TRNC on January 27, 2024.
President Tatar said that the TRNC continues to mourn the significant loss of life following the devastating earthquakes that occurred in Türkiye last February. “The year of 2023 was a difficult year,” the President said, adding that in “Türkiye’s new century, positive contributions will be made to the great Turkic world, and these developments will also be reflected in the TRNC”.
President Tatar also conveyed the warm greetings of the Turkish Cypriot People, former deputies and officials in the TRNC whose background originates from Trabzon, in particular from Ahmet Zengin, Mustafa Gökmen, Mesut Genç, former District Officer of Girne Sinan Güneş, Yeniboğaziçi Mayor Katip Demir, former mayors Mehmet Demirci and Arif Özbayrak and the Black Sea Cultural Association Chairman, Murat Civelek.
Answering questions from the press, President Tatar said that the vision of a two State solution in Cyprus “has been strengthened and consolidated with the calls made by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his address at the UN General Assembly, where he called upon the international community to formally recognise the TRNC, and to end the persecution of the Turkish Cypriot People by forging diplomatic, economic and political ties with our country”.
President Tatar explained that following the first historical call by President Erdoğan at the UN session of the General Assembly in September 2022, the TRNC has under its constitutional name, been accepted as an observer member to the Organisation of Turkic States.
In relation to the Cyprus issue, President Tatar stated that the Turkish Cypriot People have same equal inherent rights as the Greek Cypriot People, and are a sovereign people as co-founding partners of the Republic of Cyprus established in 1960. “However, the Turkish Cypriots were expelled by force of arms from the state apparatus of the Republic of Cyprus in December 1963, and this partnership state was destroyed by the Greek Cypriot Side, as part of their aspiration to unite Cyprus to Greece,” President Tatar said.
“From 1963 to 1974, the Turkish Cypriot People were subjected to acts of genocide and island-wide attacks and were forced to abandon 103 Turkish Cypriot villages, and live in small enclaves,” President Tatar said, stressing: “On July 15, 1974, the Greek junta staged a coup d’etat and declared the ‘Hellenic Republic of Cyprus’. Motherland and Guarantor Türkiye was obliged as a Guarantor power to act, to save us Turkish Cypriots and to stop the bloodshed. 1974 was indeed a turning point for us, as it brought to us our freedom and peace.”
Explaining that the Greek Cypriot Side have rejected at least 15 settlement plans over the past half-a-century because of their refusal to share power and prosperity with the Turkish Cypriot People on the basis of equality, President Tatar said: “The Greek Cypriot Side rejected the 2004 UN Comprehensive Settlement [Annan] Plan by 76 per cent, which was accepted by the Turkish Cypriots by 65 per cent, in separately held simultaneous referenda. New round of negotiations again collapsed in Crans-Montana in July 2017. Federal based negotiations have clearly been exhausted and we are putting forward a two State settlement, where the two Sides co-exist as friendly neighbours in a cooperative relationship,” the President explained.
President Tatar said it is “very important to strengthen the TRNC,” and stated that despite the inhumane isolation, the country is continuing its growth in the tourism, agricultural, industrial sectors and the service and construction sectors.
In response to a question about the attacks on Gaza, President Tatar stated that they are continuing to observe the attacks with great concern. President Tatar said he had been “surprised” that the tragedy continuing to unfold in Gaza was being watched by the rest of the world. “This is indeed a tragedy for humanity. The violence needs to be stopped immediately. Nobody wants to see children and civilians being killed," President Tatar said. "Turkish Cypriots had suffered similar atrocities in Cyprus,” and that the "lesson from the Gaza attrocities is to achieve a two State solution."
President Tatar pointed out that he has been putting forward a vision and position for a two State settlement for the Island of Cyprus with the Guarantee of Türkiye, for absolute and subsisting peace and tranquillity.
President Tatar was accompanied by Erek Çağatay, the TRNC Consul to Trabzon.